Delay Urged in UC’s Graduate Preferences Ban

Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante and 56 other Democratic legislators urged the University of California on Tuesday to postpone its ban on affirmative action in graduate admissions until labor officials can decide if the change of policy violates federal law.

The written request comes two weeks after civil rights lawyers filed a complaint with the U.S. Labor Department, arguing that most graduate students work as employees and thus should be covered by the affirmative action plan that UC is required to maintain as a federal contractor.

“We strongly believe that the university, as a recipient of over $1.3 billion from the federal government, must serious reevaluate the decision to move forward with a policy that may violate federal laws,” the lawmakers wrote.

Even with affirmative action, they said, there was a 24% drop in “underrepresented minorities” admitted to UC’s five medical schools last year.

But UC admissions officers said it may be too late to switch admission criteria, given that its graduate and professional schools have begun selecting 9,600 students for next fall’s classes in the medical schools along with UC’s three law schools and 600 other graduate programs.

“Graduate admissions are already underway,” said UC spokesman Terry Colvin.

That is all the more reason for the university to reverse course quickly, said Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), who signed the letter.

“It is possible for the university to turn on a dime when it wants to, particularly if they are paying attention to the jeopardy of federal contract dollars,” said Kuehl, a former UCLA assistant dean.

This year, for the first time in decades, the graduate programs are evaluating applicants without regard to their race, gender or ethnic origin.

Affirmative action criteria are not scheduled to be phased out of undergraduate admissions for another year, in the selection of the fall 1998 classes.

Employing a novel legal strategy to attack the policy, attorneys for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed a complaint with labor officials that seeks to tie graduate admissions to employment practices.

As a federal contractor, the university must follow equal opportunity hiring rules.

Civil rights attorneys argue that admitting graduate students is tantamount to pre-selecting them for jobs ranging from lab technician and staff researcher to teaching assistant.

But James Holst, the university’s general counsel, disputed the reasoning. In his extensive review of federal regulations, he said, he has never found that graduate students are covered by the affirmative action job rules.

Labor Department attorneys are now scrutinizing the complaint to determine if it warrants a full investigation, a spokesman said.

Yet the lawmakers’ letter urged UC President Richard C. Atkinson to postpone the affirmative action ban until next year if there is “any chance” of a ruling that could threaten UC’s lucrative federal contracts.

In addition, the lawmakers wrote, “As a distinguished taxpayer-supported institution, the University of California has an obligation to encourage diversity and to train adequate numbers of professionals from all sectors of society.”

The letter says the number of “underrepresented minority” applicants to one institution, UC San Francisco Medical School, has dropped nearly 25% this year, on top of the decrease in African American and Latino students admitted to all UC medical schools last year.

It also cites findings that African American and Latino physicians are many times more likely to care for black and Latino patients and practice medicine in deprived areas.

“How well the University of California is performing its mission of serving all Californians will be an important consideration as the Legislature addresses higher education issues this year,” the letter says.

Atkinson was unavailable for comment.