UC and Affirmative Action
The U.S. Supreme Court will be making decisions on affirmative action in higher ed admissions soon. UC – despite Prop 209 which bans such affirmative action – seems to be caught up in the case indirectly due to research papers and court submissions dealing with the impact of Prop 209. Inside Higher Ed today points to a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper on the impact of 209 on graduation rates of minorities from UC. It has been contended that affirmative action programs create a kind of mismatch between students and institutions. The working paper finds that 209, by eliminating mismatch, improved graduation rates at UC. It might be noted that one of the four authors (Hotz) was formerly at UCLA. Abstract of the paper:
An earlier post on this blog noted the study on mismatch by Richard Sander of the Law School:
http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/10/ucla-admissions-controversy.html
See also our post on the brief submitted to the Supreme Court by UC:
http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/08/uc-submits-legal-brief-on-affirmative.html
Prior to the enactment of Prop 209, the Regents banned affirmative action in admissions and contracting at UC. Prop 209 then made the Regents’ ban superfluous and they later repealed it. But since Prop 209 remains in force, the repeal had no effect. You can see the Regents during the enactment of the ban at:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBB1vM6RNZA?feature=player_detailpage]