UCLA officials announced this week that the university will now use a more “holistic†approach to admissions when accepting new students, spurred partly by a disturbing slip in minority enrollment. It’s what we would call a more “logical†approach.
Since California voters passed Proposition 209, the 1996 voter initiative that barred colleges and universities from using race in the admissions process, UCLA has judged potential students mainly on test scores. This has put UCLA at odds with leading educational institutions, including UC Berkeley and most Ivy Leagues schools, which have long evaluated applicants on a variety of criteria. It’s high time UCLA joined the club. By fully considering the education and living situations of these potential students, UCLA is making an obvious improvement to the ineffective admissions process that has reigned since the passage of Prop. 209.
The part of the discussion that UCLA officials seem reluctant to acknowledge is what spurred this action in the first place: Admissions figures released in June showed only 96 African Americans—2 percent of the freshman class—are expected to enroll this fall. In fact, the figures show that Latinos and Native Americans remain underrepresented among UCLA students as well. University officials have been quick—too quick in our estimate—to divorce this new decision from having anything to do with the chronically low numbers of minority students attending UCLA. The concern, considering the illegality of affirmative action measures, is understandable. But what is lost is recognition that action must be taken across the board, at all levels of education, to improve the historically low mobility of minorities. Under pressure from black alumni, community leaders and legislators, UCLA took a step toward equalizing education. Let’s hail it for what it is.