How do you go about creating a UC admissions system where all students — not just the privileged — have an equal opportunity?

That was the theme in October at a UC Berkeley symposium that examined whether Proposition. 209 has widened the student diversity gap. Ten years ago, state voters approved the ballot measure as a way to ban race as a factor in public school admissions and state hiring. Now, UC faculty and administrators, including those at UC Davis, are presenting their evidence on the law's impact — and it is deemed significant.

Consider that in 1997, the year before Prop. 209 went into effect, African-American freshmen at UC's 10 campuses registered at just 4 percent of the total student population. By 2005, this already-low rate had fallen to 3 percent, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. With facts like these, some educators are concerned that UC is losing ground with minority groups.

'Not being served'

Mark Rashid, a UC Davis professor of civil and environmental engineering and co-author of two reports delivered at the symposium, said that "universities need to consider more than academics. There is a large part of the population not being served."

As Rashid noted, UC enrollment slots are set aside for California high school graduates who earn the top 12.5 percent of standardized test scores (the SAT) and in high school grade-point-averages (GPA) from UC-approved classes. However, with this quantitative approach, he and others believe the UC system is failing to admit enough students based on intangible qualifications — community involvement, leadership skills and character — or those who overcame socioeconomic hardships.

He maintains that while UC Davis and other campuses now employ so-called "comprehensive review" to look at an applicant's entire file — considering their personal narratives as well as grade-point averages and SAT scores — only high school students with sufficiently high GPAs and SATs make it into the pool in the first place.

The problem, Rashid and his fellow co-authors wrote, is that the UC's reliance on GPA and SAT scores is "simplistic," "narrow" and "unfair" to certain students. "In defining merit in such an inappropriate way, the current eligibility construct ill-serves educational preparation and academic achievement," states the report, California at a Crossroads: Confronting the Looming Threat to Achievement, Access and Equity at the University of California and Beyond.

With only about one-eighth of all California students eligible for UC admissions, the report states that eligible students tend to come from higher-income families and certain racial and ethnic groups.

What can be done? Rashid and his colleagues would like to see the admissions pipeline opened up much more broadly so many more students would undergo comprehensive review.

Not everyone agrees.

SAT, GPA good predictors

Keith Widaman, chair of the UC Davis psychology department, is not persuaded about admission problems.

"I don't think admissions is in a terrible state," said Widaman, a former chair of the same committee Rashid serves on. He is also the chair of the UC Davis Academic Senate Committee on Admissions and Enrollment.

While Widaman agrees that many factors must be taken into account when determining a student's acceptance into Davis, he is wary of de-emphasizing academic achievement in determining admissions.

"Grades and SAT scores are the best predictors we have," he said, citing a report done by the California Postsecondary Education Commission that found both entrance exams and GPA had a positive correlation with first-year GPAs. "It's hard to fake good on those."

In 1999, Widaman said, the UC system loosened up its eligibility criteria when it allowed the top 4 percent of students from all California public high schools to be eligible for UC admissions. Faculty developed the new criteria following more than a year of analysis, considering ways for the university to increase the number of UC-eligible students while still fulfilling its obligation to enroll from the top 12.5 percent of California high school graduates and continuing to maintain academic quality.

However, some of these disadvantaged high school students eligible for UC admission will instead apply to community colleges or the California State University, said Widaman. Why? UC costs more and the others offer many more campus locations than the 10-campus UC.

"It's sometimes hard to convince students that a UC education will be that valuable to them," he said.

Merely continuing to expand UC eligibility criteria is not the best answer to attracting these types of underprivileged students, Widaman said. "We can change things and bring in students who won't do as well but we don't want to invite unprepared students to the university to fail."

Few people at UC Davis know as much about admissions as Pamela Burnett. The director of undergraduate admissions, she will tell you that the lack of diversity in the student body is "absolutely a problem."

"There are students with great potential who, due to educational and other barriers, are deterred from having a voice in our academic discourse," she said.

Prop. 209, Burnett said, is one of these barriers. In her opinion, the problem with Prop. 209 is that "it assumes that the playing field is already level — and it's not."

She believes too many deserving students are currently deemed ineligible.

"We're here to serve California to bring different experiences, different viewpoints and different ideas from capable students of all communities in California," said Burnett, adding that UC strives to ensure that the demographics of its undergraduate student population reflects the population of California.

One way to achieve this is for the UC to expand its eligibility process and allow comprehensive review for more students, according to the second report UC Eligibility: The Quest for Excellence and Diversity.

Rashid described it as "the right way, the just way for UC to assess applicants."

To Widaman, admissions is a "difficult business," and he warns about watering down the admissions process. Still, he believes UC would benefit from a more "inclusive" and "fair" system. The challenge, he added, is how to bring this about.

Allison Leung is a student intern for Dateline.