Study Finds UC Admissions Leaves Out Blacks, Latinos

UC San Diego – The Daily Guardian

An independent study released March 5 found that UC acceptance rates of black and Latino students have dropped significantly since the implementation of race-blind admissions in 1998.

The Tomas Rivera Policy Institute’s study said that the overall UC acceptance rates dropped 16.5 percent for Latinos and 20.5 percent for blacks. The report used data collected before the implementation of Standing Policy 1, which banned the use of race in admissions decisions beginning in fall 1998.

If 1997 acceptance rates had remained constant, 5,530 more Latinos and 1,829 more blacks would have been accepted to UC campuses in 2002, according to the study.

The UC Board of Regents rescinded SP-1 in late 2001 in favor of a new policy called comprehensive review, which went into effect Fall 2002. The new policy allows individual campuses to base admissions decisions on a broad variety of academic and personal qualities but still prohibits the use of race in the process. A 2002 UC report found that comprehensive review had not caused a significant change in the admissions patterns of the six most selective UC campuses.

The TRPI study named UC San Diego as making the most notable gains in minority acceptance rates since the implementation of comprehensive review but said that rates at all UC campuses are still well below pre- SP-1 levels.

UCLA Students Throw Off Clothes, Blow Off Steam

UC Los Angeles – The Daily Bruin

A UCLA undergraduate whose previous attempts to release pre-finals tension ran afoul of the law has found a new way to unwind.

Third year theater major Eric Whitehead and some friends tried to participate last spring in Midnight Yell, a UCLA tradition where students scream at the stroke of midnight to relieve the stress of final exams. Police officers quickly stopped the yelling and ticketed Whitehead for riding his bike at night without reflectors.

Whitehead wrote a song decrying the police intervention and then walked through campus singing with a group of 13 other students, all clad only in their boxers. And the idea for an Undie Run was born.

The Fall 2002 Undie Run drew about 20 participants, mostly male.

Nancy Greenstein, director of community services for the UC Police Dept., said it is not illegal to run in underwear, as it is not illegal to run in a bathing suit. It would be illegal, however, to run naked.

“We’re keeping within the context of the law as long as we’re keeping the bare essentials together,” original runner and third year religious studies major Mark Chipello said.

Davis Smokers Getting Blown Out

UC Davis – The California Aggie

A UC Davis health committee hopes to push smokers further away from on-campus buildings.

The current policy prohibits smoking within all campus-owned buildings and within five feet of a main exit or entrance. The Associated Students of UC Davis Health and Well-Being Committee hopes to amend the policy to prohibit smoking within 25 feet of campus buildings. The Smoke-Free Policy is due to be updated in June, according to Health and Well-Being Committee member Hillary Howard.

Ada Barrows, adviser to the student organization Saving Lungs, Saving Lives, said the change would rank UCD with the most progressive UC smoking policies.

“UCD will be following the lead of Santa Cruz, who already has a 25-foot smoke-free perimeter policy, and Berkeley and Irvine, who both have 15-foot smoke-free perimeters,” she said.

The proposed policy would be more consistent with Yolo County regulations, which prohibit smoking within 20 feet of county buildings.

Bruce Leistikow, associate professor of epidemiology at the UCD School of Medicine, said there is “decent” scientific evidence that there should be a minimum 20-foot smoke-free perimeter around buildings. Leistikow said such a policy would reduce secondhand smoke, fire hazards and litter.

Barrows said the change would make campus policy in greater accordance with state law.

“Exposure to secondhand smoke is a health hazard on campus, and when smoking is permitted right outside doorways or windows, secondhand smoke easily enters buildings, which are supposed to be smoke-free according to California state law,” she said.

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