BILL NUMBER: ACR 73INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Alejo JUNE 29, 2011 Relative to the University of California. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST ACR 73, as introduced, Alejo. University of California: graduate admissions. This measure would request the Regents of the University of California to implement a comprehensive approach, by the end of the 2012-13 academic year, in the respective admissions processes of the university's various graduate programs and professional schools by including a broad variety of academic and personal qualifications. This measure would also request review and revision of the admissions policies of graduate programs and professional schools to include a broader variety of important qualifications, with evaluation of the weight and value given to these qualifications, so that standardized test scores are not the overriding criterion used to determine admissions. The measure would also request the Regents to prohibit, by the end of the 2012-13 academic year, standardized test scores from being used as the sole criterion for consideration, or the primary criterion for ending consideration, of an applicant for admission to the University of California's various graduate programs and professional schools. The measure would request the Regents to describe the factors considered for admissions decisions by each graduate program or professional school. This measure would then request the Regents to make these descriptions reasonably available to any interested person by publishing the description of the factors in each graduate program's and professional school's catalogue and by making the information available on their respective Internet Web sites. Fiscal committee: no. WHEREAS, The University of California is committed to enrolling a student body that reflects the diversity of the State of California; and WHEREAS, According to the results of the 2010 census of the United States, people of color comprise the majority of the general population of the State of California, making it the most racially and ethnically diverse state in the country; and WHEREAS, Over the last 15 years, there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of underrepresented people of color - including African American, Latino, and Native American students - admitted and enrolled in the graduate programs and professional schools of the University of California; and WHEREAS, From fall 1994 to fall 2009, inclusive, the number of African Americans admitted to law schools at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UCLA declined 49 percent, from a total of 239 to 121, and their enrollment rate over the same period declined 61 percent, from a total of 87 to only 34; and WHEREAS, From fall 1994 to fall 2009, inclusive, the number of Latinos admitted to law schools at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UCLA declined six percent, from a total of 273 to 257, and their enrollment rate over the same period declined 26 percent, from a total of 110 to only 81; and WHEREAS, From fall 1994 to fall 2009, inclusive, the number of Native Americans admitted to law schools at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UCLA declined 21 percent, from a total of 34 to 27, and their enrollment rate declined 25 percent over the same period, from a total of 12 to only nine; and WHEREAS, From fall 1995 to fall 2009, inclusive, the number of people of color admitted to UC business schools declined 60 percent, from a total of 149 to 59, and their enrollment rate declined 50 percent over the same period, from a total of 68 to only 34; and WHEREAS, From fall 1995 to fall 2009, inclusive, the number of underrepresented people of color admitted to all of the UC graduate programs declined 26 percent, from a total of 1,385 to 1,028, and their acceptance rate declined 47 percent over the same period, from a total of 751 to only 395; and WHEREAS, Over the last 10 years, there has also been a significant decrease in the number of Asian Americans, including Filipino Americans, admitted and enrolled at certain graduate programs and professional schools of the University of California; and WHEREAS, From fall 1995 to fall 2008, inclusive, the number of Filipino Americans admitted to law schools at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UCLA declined three percent, from a total of 33 to 32, and their enrollment rate declined 12 percent over the same period, from a total of 17 to only 15; and WHEREAS, From fall 1995 to fall 2009, inclusive, the number of Asian Americans admitted to University of California graduate programs declined 11 percent, from a total of 2,333 to 2,078, and their acceptance declined 22 percent over the same period, from a total of 1,097 to only 854; and WHEREAS, These dramatic declines in the numbers of underrepresented people of color admitted to, and enrolling in, University of California graduate programs and professional schools has discouraged underrepresented people of color from applying to graduate programs and professional schools they perceive as hostile and unwelcoming; and WHEREAS, Limiting educational opportunities in higher education at the graduate and professional school level perpetuates inequity among Californians; and WHEREAS, The dramatic decline in the numbers of underrepresented people of color admitted to, and enrolling in, University of California graduate programs and professional schools harms all students because their education is without the benefit of the perspectives those now-absent students once brought to classroom discussions; and WHEREAS, The dramatic decline in the number of underrepresented people of color enrolling in University of California graduate programs and professional schools contributes to a declining number of underrepresented people of color entering into professions, including law, business, education, and engineering; and WHEREAS, The University of California Regents Study Group on Diversity Subcommittee reported in their 2007 "Report of the Work Team on Graduate and Professional School Diversity" that traditional ranking methodologies have been shown to have an adverse effect on new enrollments of underrepresented minorities, and the University of California should leverage its influence with organizations that rank or assess university academic programs to include metrics on diversity and social climate; and WHEREAS, The University of California Study Group on University Diversity reported in their 2007 "Overview Report to the Regents" that change is needed to achieve a level of diversity among students, faculty, and staff appropriate to their mission, as well as a social climate on each of their campuses that is open to and inclusive of persons from all backgrounds; and WHEREAS, The current admissions policies of University of California graduate programs and professional schools are too narrow and do not allow for a large number of qualified students of color to be admitted and enrolled; and WHEREAS, The University of California had approved a proposal for a comprehensive review of its freshman admissions process to consider a broad variety of academic and personal qualifications; however, the same approach is not used in its graduate and professional schools admissions process; and WHEREAS, Standardized test scores, as the sole criterion for consideration or as the primary criterion to end consideration of an applicant, could well constitute a major obstacle to the admission of underrepresented people of color to the University of California's graduate and professional schools, and the overreliance on standardized test scores, to the exclusion of other valuable admissions information, exacerbates the problem of low admission and enrollment rates of people of color; and WHEREAS, The Law School Admissions Council (LSAC), the organization that administers the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), launched a five-year effort in January 2001 to urge law schools to deemphasize numbers-based admissions policies and to broaden their admissions criteria; however, despite those efforts, law schools still continue to place a substantial emphasis on standardized test scores; and WHEREAS, The American Bar Association's Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession reported that representation by people of color in the legal profession is significantly lower than in most other professions, that entry into the profession by people of color has slowed considerably since 1995, and that enrollment by people of color has dropped significantly at top public law schools in California; and WHEREAS, Industry standards and guidelines militate against using standardized test scores as the sole criterion for making important decisions that impact people's lives, and support the use of multiple measures to make high-stakes decisions when these measures are available and will add to the validity of the decision; and WHEREAS, By broadening the admissions criteria of the graduate programs and professional schools, and by prohibiting the use of standardized test scores as the sole criterion for consideration or as the primary criterion to end consideration of the applicant, the Regents of the University of California would assert that the University of California is committed to admitting and enrolling all students, and would assure underrepresented people of color that they are welcome and wanted; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California requests the Regents of the University of California to implement a comprehensive approach in the admissions processes to include a broad variety of academic and personal qualifications for their respective graduate programs and professional schools by the end of the 2012-13 academic year; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature requests that the comprehensive approach also include reviewing and revising the admissions policies of graduate programs and professional schools, which claim to include some additional qualifications, to include an even broader variety of important qualifications, as is already done for the undergraduate admissions process of the University of California; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature requests that the comprehensive approach include reviewing and revising the weight or value placed on each of the important factors so that the standardized test scores are not the overriding criterion used to determine admissions; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature officially requests the Regents of the University of California to prohibit, by the end of the 2012-13 academic year, standardized test scores from being used as the sole criterion for consideration, or as the primary criterion to end consideration, of the applicant for admission to the University of California's various graduate programs and professional schools; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature requests that the Regents of the University of California describe those factors that are considered by each graduate program's or professional school in making admissions decisions, and make those descriptions reasonably available to any interested person, by publishing the description of the factors in each graduate program and professional school's catalogue, and making the information available on their respective Internet Web sites; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit a copy of this resolution to each Regent of the University of California and to the author for appropriate distribution.