UC Regents To Study Effects of Proposition 209
The UC System has announced that it will undertake a study of the effects of Proposition 209 on system admissions. From the Daily Cal:
The university is set to examine the impact of Proposition 209 on minority enrollment after the UC Board of Regents endorsed a study of diversity at its meeting yesterday…
“This is not intended to take issue with 209, but to evaluate and better understand the state of UC admissions and enrollment in the context of 209,” said UC President Robert Dynes…
Student Regent Maria Ledesma, who introduced the study, said she hopes to uncover “better practices” in admissions and eligibility.
“I think we’ve made some gains trying to address the immediate drop in enrollment that happened shortly after the proposition (passed), but I think that there are opportunities out there and that’s what I hope to learn in the study,” she said.
It’s amazing that it has taken the UC Regents nearly a decade after the passage of Prop 209 to see exactly what effect the measure has had, and will have, on higher education in California. No matter which side you talk to, the results of 209 have been evident for some time.
It also reflects one of the major problems with the ballot-box political machinery in place in California - I am sure that millions of Californians knew what 209 would do when they voted on the measure, but I doubt that even a fraction of them understood the ramifications of those actions, and the further consequences that were then inherited.
