By Noah Grand
Daily Bruin Reporter
Several thousand University of California students petitioned
the UC Academic Senate to stop using the SAT I in admissions and
raise underrepresented minority enrollment.
The UC system-wide Academic Senate, which met at UCLA Wednesday,
accepted an unprecedented petition from approximately 3,600
students without giving any opinion on the petition.
The petitions were collected by UC Berkeley student Hoku
Jeffery, a member of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action and
Integration and Fight for Equality by Any Means Necessary.
“We’re doing this petition to get mass pressure on
the Academic Senate and the regents to increase underrepresented
student enrollment,” Jeffery said.
Students are not allowed to address the Academic Senate, so
Jeffery gave the petition to system-wide Academic Senate chair
Chand Viswanathan, who then brought up the petition as an item in
the meeting.
This was the first time the Academic Senate had received such a
petition, which was forwarded to the Board on Admissions and
Relations with Schools.
“If students want to give us a petition for information
purposes we will take and pass on that information to the
appropriate committee,” Viswanathan said.
BOARS is currently considering making the SAT I optional in the
admissions process, and is expected to give this closer
consideration after comprehensive admissions is finalized.
Jeffery, who also favors comprehensive admissions, is a member
of UC Berkeley’s undergraduate student government. He said it
will vote on whether to co-sponsor the petition next week. Either
way, Jeffery will lead a picket in front of next month’s UC
Regents meeting advocating for greater diversity.
“I think eliminating the SAT I from admissions will
definitely have an impact on diversity at the flagship schools of
UCLA and Berkeley,” Jeffery said. “The tests reduce the
number of blacks, Latinos and American Indians able to get a UC
education.”
A recent UC study showed that performance on the SAT I almost
exclusively reflects a student’s socioeconomic background,
but removing the SAT I from admissions would not increase
diversity.
The petition cited a drop in underrepresented minority
admissions after SP-1 was passed and called for an increase in
minority hires at UC.