Follow Up on Affirmative Action

Yesterday, we posted an entry about Prop 209 admissions data in preparation for the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action in university admissions.  Now that the decision is out, the media reports generally say it will have little effect.  Since California has Prop 209 restrictions in place already, it is assumed that there will be zero effect in California.  Your non-legal expert is unsure that zero is the right number.  As noted yesterday, the decision had the potential to affect private universities - due to their acceptance of federal funding - and public ones outside California.  Suppose it turns out that when the dust settles on this decision - a process that will apparently occur in lower courts - following affirmative action policies is made more difficult or in someway impeded in the privates and non-California publics.  In that event, the UC disadvantage in attempting to follow diversity policies under Prop 209 could be lessened.  If there are any legal types that would like to intone on this speculation, they are invited to do so.

The LA Times' version of the decision of the Supremes is at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-affirmative-action-20130625,0,3357283.story

It might be noted that two other cases decided by the Supremes and involving employment discrimination claims happened to occur at universities.  The decisions made such claims more difficult to pursue.  A summary and links can be found at:
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/06/25/universities-play-role-2-supreme-court-employment-law-rulings

Prop 209 Data

Prop 209, approved by voters in 1996, banned affirmative action in university admissions and public contracting.  It followed an earlier move in 1995 by the Regents to ban affirmative action and, in fact, made their decision redundant.  (They later revoked the decision, an action that had no effect once Prop 209 was enacted.)  The Contra Costa Times has a retrospective article on the subject because of the pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on affirmative action that could extend to private as well as public universities since the former accept federal funding.  The chart above comes from that article and focuses on admission rates at UC-Berkeley.

The article is at http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_23516741/affirmative-action-ban-at-uc-15-years-later

 

You can see a video of the Regents’ action at the link below:

UC-Irvine Gets Some Good Press

Warm welcome to University of California Irvine

By Anat Maor, Jerusalem Post, 2-17-13

When I first arrived at the University of California in Irvine, I didn’t know a single person there. To tell you the truth, I was feeling apprehensive about my new role as a professor in Israel studies here, especially given the reputation of the school. This was the same university which saw confrontations between student protesters and Israeli ambassador Michael Oren in 2010, which culminated in arrests and the Zionist Organization of America branding UCI as “a campus that permitted bigotry.” Yet after just one month I have already started to feel at home in Irvine. How did this happen? Contrary to expectations, I have had many positive experiences here...

Furthermore, I have been very active in a group called “Olive Tree,” which brings Israeli and Palestinian students together for dialogue, and every summer they go to visit the Middle East. I have developed a close personal connection with the vice president of this group. To conclude, although I have only been teaching at UCI for a few short weeks I can already see that I am going to have a great time here...

Full story at http://blogs.jpost.com/content/warm-welcome-university-california-irvine

Demographic Shifts and Lulls

The governor's budget contains demographic projections for California.  A number of news stories have picked up on the fact that by mid-2013, the Latino and non-Latino-white populations will be equal, according to the projection.  It was pretty obvious from the 2010 Census that this development would occur soon.  However, another aspect of the projections - one more closely related to UC and budget issues - is the chart below:

Apart from the fact - well known - that the population is aging, note there is little growth in the college-age population projected for the next few years.  Moreover, the K-12 population is declining so the pressure on college admissions should be reduced for some time to come.  There seems to be a bit of a baby boom below that but they won't get to college for awhile.  (These trends have also been known for some time but they become important in the context of higher ed funding.)

The governor's budget is at:
http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/BudgetSummary/FullBudgetSummary.pdf

The demographic section begins on page 121.