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UC Berkeley Admissions Admission: Obvious But Still Shocking

17% of the 13,000 students offered admission to next year?s entering class at Berkeley are black, Latino, or American Indian, the same percentage as last year.

As a result, ?[p]rotesters are claiming that the university is discriminating against Latina/o, black and Native American students by imposing a ceiling on the number of underrepresented minority students they admit.? (I wonder if these protesters would regard it as discriminatory and unfair if ?a ceiling? were placed on the number of Asians, so that more of the favored minorities could be admitted.)

Not so, says the director of admissions.

?There is absolutely no ceiling for any type of student based on ethnicity?either in policy or in practice,? Assistant Vice Chancellor and Director of Undergraduate Admissions for UC Berkeley Walter Robinson said.

Admissions are based on a comprehensive review of applicants in the context of the opportunities that have been made available to them, Robinson said. Gender, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation is not considered during the application process.

Let us assume (generously) that Robinson is correct, and note his comparison to the pre-Prop. 209 era of affirmative action:

The university had an affirmative action policy until 1996 when voters passed Proposition 209, which amended the state constitution to prohibit public institutions from considering race, gender or ethnicity.

Before Proposition 209, the university accepted twice as many minority students than it currently accepts, according to Robinson.

There is, of course, nothing new here, at least not to those who follow this issue. I?ve discussed the numbers many times, such as here, a couple of years ago, when I noted that

in 1995, the last year when racial preferences were both legal and in full force, 48% of black applicants to UCLA were offered admission. In 2006, with such ?affirmative action? no longer legal, 11.5% of black applicants were accepted. This year, 2007, after UCLA moved with great fanfare to ?holistic review,? 16% of blacks applicants were admitted....

Thus, nothing new, but I still think it worth noting that Berkeley?s Assistant Vice Chancellor and Director of Undergraduate Admissions freely admits that until Prop. 209 outlawed racial preferences fully half of the minorities admitted to Berkeley would not have been admitted if their race had not been taken into account.

Obvious, but still shocking.

Full post as published by Discriminations on April 12, 2009 (boomark / email).