At many universities and colleges across this nation there is an annual commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his vision of "a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." At these ceremonies, it is common for various campus leaders and administrators to vow renewed…

Last week the Board of Regents of the University of California tabled a faculty proposal to broaden the pool of applicants eligible for admission to the 10 campuses in the University of California system. The regents took the action to allow the university's new president, Mark G. Yudof, as well as regents who were uncertain about the proposal,…

Evidence supporting a widely reported decline in the quality of California public high schools is equivocal at best. Primary sources of this charge--administrators, especially admission officers, at high prestige universities--are themselves the primary sources of the real problems high schools are having. (Author/CJ)

California's Proposition 209, dismantling affirmative-action policy, has chilled race relations in the state, provided a road map for groups with similar agendas in other states, and challenged higher education to find alternative paths to justice for women and people of color. Recent experience has shown that more selective institutions have…

College admissions requirements can be a powerful force toward improved student achievement in high schools and colleges. In January of 1982, California State University adopted more rigorous admission requirements, to become effective in the fall of 1984. Since that decision, morale of high school teachers has improved, and expectations and…

This publication sets forward the California State Postsecondary Education Commission's historical and present perspective on educational equity in California higher education and was prompted by Governor Wilson's June 1, 1995 Executive Order to End Preferential Treatment and to Promote Individual Opportunity Based on Merit (Executive Order…

This report on California's higher education system and its Master Plan for Higher Education focuses on making California a fully multicultural democracy in which all are empowered to participate as equal citizens. The report is organized in nine sections the first of which is an introductory essay reviewing the background of the state's higher…

The nation's experience with ethnic and racial minorities is being radically redefined in California, where demographic shifts are being addressed more effectively by the business community than by higher education. The University of California and the state's public education system are gradually coming to terms with their responsibility for…