UCSD Academic Senate Considers UC Proposal to Change Admissions Policy

Paul K. Mueller | December 3, 2007

Their first meeting postponed by recent wildfires, the UCSD Academic Senate met on Tuesday, with new Chair James Posakony and Vice Chair Daniel Donoghue welcoming their colleagues to the 2007-2008 session and describing the full slate of issues the assembly will face.

Among those issues is one that many in California are watching closely — a proposal from the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) to reform the University of California’s freshman eligibility policy. The UC system now guarantees admission to students in the top four percent of their high-school class, as well as those with high scores in required classes and standardized tests.

The proposal keeps guaranteed admission for the top four percent, but reduces mandatory SATs from five to three, places less emphasis on advanced-placement courses, and allows a broader review of a student’s application. The board’s goal is to bring more rural and inner-city students — who often have no access to honors courses, experienced counselors or other resources — to UC campuses.

The Academic Senate wasn’t voting on the issue, but did receive the reports of committees which studied the proposal.  Hans Paar, chair of UCSD’s Admissions Committee, offered in his report a “cautious endorsement” with a list of detailed qualifications. Similar sets of questions were raised by other committees.

Chancellor Fox, Senior Vice Chancellor Paul Drake, Vice Chancellor Penny Rue, Associate Vice Chancellor Mae Brown, and former Vice Chancellor Joe Watson joined faculty members in discussing the merits and problems of the proposal. (The full text of the proposal and the responses of several UCSD committees are available starting at page 27 here.)

In other business, the Senate heard from Vice Chancellor Steve Relyea about campus emergency planning and response — a fortuitous scheduling given the recent fires; received a briefing on budgets and other issues from Chancellor Fox; adopted the consent calendar; filled several council and committee posts; and approved proposals to create a faculty research lecturer position, create a joint UCSD/SDSU doctoral program in geophysics, and create an interdisciplinary graduate program in computational science.

Among other issues the Academic Senate will address, said Posakony, are improvements to the academic-integrity process and faculty-salary plans. The next meeting is scheduled for January 29, 2008.