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Civil
Rights Groups, Political Leaders, and Students Oppose Restrictions
to University of California Eligibility Criteria
UC
Regents Will Vote Thursday on
Raising Freshmen GPA Requirement
SAN
FRANCISCO (September 23, 2004) — A broad coalition of civil
rights, education, and student groups have sent letters to the
UC Regents opposing their proposal to further restrict UC eligibility,
including raising the minimum high school GPA to 3.0 or 3.1.
The
organizations argue that the Regents proposal (1) undermines hard-fought
statewide efforts to successfully improve eligibility rates; (2)
is being hastily adopted based upon unreliable data; and (3) will
unfairly erode racial and socioeconomic diversity. The people
listed above are available for comment; several will be addressing
the Regents meeting on Thursday at the Laurel Heights campus of
UCSF.
California
political leaders are also voicing opposition to UC's proposed
restrictions. Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, who will vote
at the meeting as an ex officio Regent, stated that the rise in
eligibility rates should be a "cause for celebration, not
consternation." Senator Kevin Murray, chair of the Black
Legislative Caucus, wrote to the Regents that the proposal "sends
the wrong message by punishing rather than rewarding the high
achievement of California's youth." Assemblywoman Loni Hancock
warned that the proposal signals to "hard working high school
students that UC is changing the rules in the middle of the game."
Additional
information, including the letters to the Regents quoted above,
is available at http://www.lccr.com/news.html.
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