Graduate Assembly Votes to Support Admissions Changes

The Graduate Assembly passed a resolution yesterday in support of a proposed UC policy that could expand the eligibility of prospective freshman.

Members of the assembly voiced their support of the expansion for freshmen eligibility, saying it would help underrepresented minorities.

"The continuing crisis of the use of the SAT continues to artificially narrow the pipeline of underrepresented minority students," said doctoral student Ronald Cruz, the bill's author.

The vote follows a move by a university committee to consider a proposal to create a more flexible freshman admissions process.

The UC Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools, a committee in the Academic Senate that oversees UC admissions policies, recently revised its original proposal to alter eligibility requirements after considering feedback from the UC campuses.

The board's revised proposal suggests eliminating the SAT II as a requirement for admission and guaranteeing admission to the state's top 5 percent and the top 12.5 percent of students in their high school's graduating class. If a student does not meet those criteria, the proposal suggests that the student be considered if they have a minimum 2.8 GPA and have taken the ACT or SAT tests.

Under current policy, prospective resident freshman must achieve at least a 3.0 GPA, complete the a-g course curriculum and take the ACT or SAT I and take two SAT II subject tests in order to be guaranteed admissions. Alternatively, they could be in the top 4 percent of their class and take the required tests to have guaranteed admission.

Mark Rashid, chair of the board and professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis, said current eligibility standards prevent many high-achieving students from being considered for admission because they lack the resources to be eligible.

"In other words, they are being excluded for technical, bureaucratic reasons," he said. "If you're not eligible, then it doesn't matter how good of a student you are. You're essentially invisible to UC."

The proposed freshman eligibility policy has been released by the Academic Council, the executive body of the Academic Senate, to the committees and divisions of the senate for their feedback, which is expected in May.

Tags: GRADUATE ASSEMBLY, BOARS REPORT