On Thursday, the University of California board of regents voted unanimously, 23-0, to jettison using SAT and ACT college admissions exams for a guide to college admissions to the UC system, which received more than 176,000 freshmen applications last year, as <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/university-of-california-will-stop-using-sat-act-11590099469">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported.
That vote ratified a proposal from UC President Janet Napolitano, who had issued a 2018 letter <a href="https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/may20/b4attach1.pdf">in which she stated</a>:
<blockquote>This seems like a good opportunity to review the role of admissions in UC eligibility and admissions, something I understand the Board on Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) does periodically but may not have done since 2010.
I request, therefore, that the Academic Senate, through BOARS, examine the academic use of standardized tests for UC admission; review the testing principles developed in 2002 and revised in 2010; and determine whether any changes in admission testing policies or practices are necessary to ensure the university continues to use standardized tests in an appropriate way.</blockquote>
In a <a href="https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/may20/b4.pdf">letter to the Board of Regents</a> for their meeting on Thursday, Napolitano wrote:
<blockquote>In this action item, the President of the University recommends that the Regents approve a suspension of the current standardized test (ACT/SAT) requirement for undergraduate admissions until 2024 to allow the University to modify or create a new test that better aligns with the content UC expects applicants to have learned and with UC’s values.
If UC is unable to either modify or create a test that can be available for fall 2025 freshman applicants from California high schools, the President recommends that UC eliminate altogether its standardized testing requirement for admissions for California students.</blockquote>
The Journal noted, “More than 1,000 colleges and universities have gone “test optional,” with the pace of schools dropping the exam accelerating in recent years in an attempt to level the admissions playing field.”
A spokesman for the College Board, which owns the SAT, said the organization&#8217;s “mission remains the same: to give all students, and especially low-income and first-generation students, opportunities to show their strength. We must also address the disparities in coursework and classrooms that the evidence shows most drive inequity in California.”
Last December, a high-school sophomore, two seniors, and a first-year student at Pasadena City College <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/students-community-groups-sue-university-of-california-to-drop-sat-act-11576008188?mod=article_inline">sued the University of California</a>, claiming the ACT and SAT discriminated against racial and ethnic minorities and poorer students; their lawsuit alleged, “These discriminatory tests irreparably taint UC’s ostensibly ‘holistic’ admissions process,&#8217; adding that the tests &#8216;act as a proxy for wealth and race and thus concentrate privilege on UC campuses.&#8217;”
A spokesman for the College Board responded, “The notion that the SAT is discriminatory is false. Any objective measure of student achievement will shine a light on inequalities in our education system. Our focus, with our members and partners, is combating these longstanding inequalities.”
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.  
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Pencil held over a multiple choice exam

UC System Jettisons Using SAT, ACT For Admissions

University of California system

The University of California, the elite collection of research universities that includes UC Berkeley and UCLA, does not plan to resume in-person classes at the beginning of the 2020-2021 academic year, a decision that will affect approximately 290,000 <a href="https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-s-california-student-enrollment-climbs-fourth-straight-year">students</a> across the state of California&#8217;s 10 research-oriented campuses. 
The University of California system, whose $34 billion operating budget rivals that of many states, revealed its anticipated changes through a statement from a spokesperson. 
“At this juncture, it’s likely none of our campuses will fully reopen in fall,” Claire Doan, a spokesperson for the university system, told <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-to-force-california-public-universities-largely-online-for-fall-11589327831">The Wall Street Journa</a>l. “We are exploring a mixed approach with some instruction delivered in classroom and lab settings while other classes will be primarily online.”
The statement mirrors the decision-making process at the separate California State University, which <a href="https://www2.calstate.edu/csu-system/news/Pages/CSU-Chancellor-Timothy-P-Whites-Statement-on-Fall-2020-University-Operational-Plans.aspx">announced</a> on Tuesday that its 23-campus system planned to limit in-person classes for the upcoming fall semester. 
“This approach to virtual planning is necessary for many reasons. First and foremost is the health, safety and welfare of our students, faculty and staff, and the evolving data surrounding the progression of COVID-19 – current and as forecast throughout the 2020-21 academic year,” said Chancellor Timothy White in a statement. 
“This planning approach is necessary because a course that might begin in a face-to-face modality would likely have to be switched to a virtual format during the term if a serious second wave of the pandemic occurs, as forecast,” said White. 
The two university systems host thirty-three campuses across California and enroll over 750,000 undergraduate and graduate students in total, but it’s not yet clear how the novel coronavirus, or the associated changes, will affect enrollment. 
Earlier this week, UC President Janet Napolitano asked the system’s governing board to consider scrapping the standardized test-score requirement in favor of a new, not-yet-created test, or perhaps even replace it with nothing at all. 
“The President of the University recommends that the Regents approve a suspension of the current standardized test (ACT/SAT) requirement for undergraduate admissions until 2024 to allow the University to modify or create a new test that better aligns with the content UC expects applicants to have learned and with UC’s values,” said a <a href="https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/may20/b4.pdf">memo</a> to the board of regents on Monday. 
“If UC is unable to either modify or create a test that can be available for fall 2025 freshman applicants from California high schools, the President recommends that UC eliminate altogether its standardized testing requirement for admissions for California students,” said the memo. 
According to <a href="https://apnews.com/7bf661669ef54a4b93427ff8029ed62f">The Associated Press</a>, Napolitano announced last year that she plans to step down from her post in August 2020. A former Obama administration official and governor of Arizona, Napolitano has also <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/sort-vp-biden-really-needs/611122/">been floated</a> as an out-of-left-field running mate pick for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. 
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

UC Berkeley

University Of California System Expects To Cut In-Person Classes For Fall Term

COVID

University of California

The University of California system, bowing to current political correctness, has issued a “<a href="https://medschool.ucla.edu/workfiles/Site-System/equity-and-inclusion-during-covid-19-3-19-2020.pdf">guidance document</a>” prepared by its Council of Chief Diversity Officers that instructs campus decision makers, faculty, administrators, students and staff not to use the term “Chinese virus” to describe COVID-19, the coronavirus whose beginnings have largely been attributed to Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in Communist China.
Titled, “Equity and Inclusion during COVID-19,” the document begins by admonishing its readers to “Reject racism, sexism, xenophobia and all hateful or intolerant speech, both in person and online. Be an ‘up-stander,’ and discourage others from engaging in such behavior.” It continues, “Do not use terms such as &#8216;Chinese Virus&#8217; or other terms which cast either intentional or unintentional projections of hatred toward Asian communities, and do not allow the use of these terms by others. Refer to the virus as either &#8216;COVID-19&#8217; or &#8216;coronavirus&#8217; in both oral and written communications.&#8221;
The document cites resources from within the UC system, including a <a href="https://diversity.ucdavis.edu/rejecting-coronavirus-xenophobia">Joint Statement</a> from the Vice Chancellor &#8211; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the Interim Vice Chancellor &#8211; Student Affairs at UC Davis titled “Rejecting Coronavirus Xenophobia” which stated:
<blockquote>A core of our mission at UC Davis Health is, of course, to advance health. Yet, health, privilege and bias are often intertwined. In recent weeks, we have seen an example of this in the alarming rise in bigotry and xenophobia against Asian communities. For many Asians, the racism is not new, but it has been emboldened as Asians are scapegoated for the coronavirus epidemic. This is doubly painful as Chinese communities also bear the weight of most of the lives lost.</blockquote>
Another document cited was titled “<a href="https://equity.ucla.edu/crosscheck/covid-19-whats-in-a-name/">COVID-19: What’s in a Name?</a>” written by Jerry Kang, Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at UCLA and one of the signatories to the UC system guidance document. In “COVID-19: What&#8217;s In A Name?” King stated:
<blockquote>… you can see why I’m concerned about the use of another name, “Wuhan virus,” which reflects both intellectual laziness and stereotyping. It’s lazy in the sense that there are more precise names for the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and the disease that it causes, COVID-19. We’re smart enough to learn the <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it">proper nomenclature</a>.
It’s also stereotyping because the term strengthens the mental association between a specific disease and Chinese people, and thus indirectly all East Asians, Asians, Asian Americans, immigrants, foreigners, and others. In this sense, using “Wuhan virus,” unwittingly or not, is a form of “name calling” that increases the chances that people of Asian descent will be teased, bullied, harassed, or just made to feel like they don’t belong. It’s so unnecessary in a moment when we need unity not division, care not contempt, solicitude not sarcasm.</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpoliakoff/2020/01/21/how-diversity-screening-at-the-university-of-california-could-degrade-faculty-quality/#3c04161e1598">Forbes</a> reported in January of the UC system’s determined effort to make “Diversity” a prime ingredient in hiring faculty applicants:
<blockquote>The majority of University of California campuses require faculty applicants to submit “diversity statements,” in which typically applicants affirm their commitment to diversity and inclusion as social ideals, detail their contributions to diversity in academia, and outline their plans for cultivating a diverse community on campus …
A new “Initiative to Advance Faculty Diversity” adopted by several departments at Berkeley is the use of a rubric as a screening process to eliminate all applicants who do not conform to the approach to diversity that Berkeley’s Office for Faculty Equity and Welfare might have in mind. A candidate who describes, in the language of the rubric, “only activities that are already the expectation of Berkeley faculty (mentoring, treating all students the same regardless of background, etc.)” is deemed to have given an unacceptable answer.
And there are real consequences for the candidate. In pilot programs, the rubric, to repeat, has been used—and continues to be used—as a screening tool, deployed before the faculty hiring committee can give due consideration to the academic merits of the candidate.</blockquote>

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University of California system

UC System Jettisons Using SAT, ACT For Admissions

University Of California System Expects To Cut In-Person Classes For Fall Term

University Of California System Tells Students, Staff: Don’t Say ‘Chinese Virus’