BERKELEY - For months, the chairman of the University of California Board of Regents, John Moores, has made outlandish statements to the press that have done real damage to UC.
On the governor's proposed zero funding for UC outreach programs to disadvantaged high school students: "I can't imagine a better program for him to eliminate."

On the importance of higher education: "I'm fairly indifferent about college for a lot of kids. I don't think it's all that important."

Dissatisfaction with Moores' leadership reached the boiling point in March, when the UC regents formally rebuked him over his recent Forbes magazine article in which he argued that UC is "thwarting the law" by admitting unqualified students of color at UC Berkeley at the expense of Asian Americans.

Moores' target in the Forbes article was UC's "comprehensive review" admissions procedures adopted three years ago. Similar to admissions procedures used at many private universities, UC's comprehensive review allows campuses to consider, in addition to test scores and grades, such qualities as economic background, motivation, leadership and initiative. It also allows UC to evaluate students' accomplishments in light of available opportunities in school and at home. This is far more fair and sensible than simply admitting the applicants with the highest SAT scores. Not only are SAT scores highly correlated with parental income and education, they are also weak predictors of college grades and graduation rates. Indeed, it was these concerns that led former UC President Richard Atkinson, a world-renowned expert in cognitive science, to advocate less reliance on the SAT in college admissions.

Although Moores styles himself as a champion of Asian Americans, his views on admissions would actually erode educational opportunities for Asian Americans at UC. Despite the "model minority" stereotype of Asian Americans as SAT whiz kids, the fact is among all high school seniors in California who took the SAT last year, whites scored more than 30 points higher than Asian Americans.

Moreover, students from all racial and ethnic groups, including Asian Americans, receive a better education at UC when comprehensive admission criteria are used to ensure that diverse and talented youth from all parts of California are included in the student body. As the U.S. Supreme Court observed less than one year ago, the educational benefits of a diverse student body are "not theoretical, but real."

More fundamentally, Moores' complaints about UC admissions are especially irresponsible in view of the shrinking educational opportunities for students of all races and backgrounds - including Asian Americans - resulting from California's budget crisis. Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget, freshmen enrollments at UC would be cut for the first time ever this fall by 10 percent, which amounts to 3,200 students. In addition, steep hikes in student fees, along with proposed cuts in financial aid, would limit access to UC. The governor's proposed budget also would eliminate funding for K-12 outreach programs and initiatives to help community college students transfer to UC.

This perfect storm of fiscal challenges presents greater barriers to UC access for all students - including Asian Americans, who made up 33 percent of students offered admission to UC last fall - than any imagined discrimination alleged by Moores. As chairman of the UC regents, Moores should have considerable influence with the governor and Legislature in shaping California's budget priorities. He ought to wield his influence, not to pick nits with admissions policy, but to address the real problem that he has so far ignored: the erosion of UC as an engine of social mobility and opportunity for hard-working students from all backgrounds.

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About the Writers

Goodwin Liu is a law professor at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. E-mail: gliu@law.berkeley.edu Theodore Hsien Wang is the policy director of Chinese for Affirmative Action. Web site: www.caasf.org William Kidder is a researcher for the Equal Justice Society, which has a report on UC admissions and the SAT on its Web site, www.equaljusticesociety.org E-mail: wkidder@equaljusticesociety.org