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 STATEMENT SUPPORTING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BY UC PRESIDENT,
 CHANCELLORS AND VICE PRESIDENTS

         In his inaugural speech, President Daniel Coit Gilman observed
 that the University is "of the people and for the people" of the state of
 California.  The explicit democratic mission of the public university
 challenges us to serve the people who represent a diverse and dynamic
 constituency.  As the University looks ahead to the 21st century, what
 imperatives must guide this institution to maintain its excellence and its
 commitment to the public good?

         Of fundamental importance is recognition of the strategic value to
 the state of an educated populace in the 21st century.  In response to the
 rapidly changing demography of the state, the University must increase its
 efforts to collaborate with the K-12 and community college systems to
 ensure a diverse pool of students who meet UC eligibility criteria for
 admission.  These students will reflect California society in the broadest
 possible sense, not just for the sake of diversity but because the
 democratic value of a public education lies in the strength of its access
 to all qualified students.

           California cannot afford the economic and social consequences of
 failure to foster leadership for the 21st century.  Such leadership must
 be able to negotiate the complexities of a global economy and
 multicultural world.  Cultivating a campus community of diverse
 ethnicities, ideas, cultures, talents, races, interests and values must
 remain at the center of the University's obligation to the state and the
 nation.  The University must remain committed to a diverse and rigorous
 intellectual environment.  A rich variety of ideas and values is essential
 to this goal.

         In May 1988, the Board of Regents adopted an admissions policy
 (copy attached) that has served this purpose admirably, as evidenced by
 the record of student accomplishment on all campuses.

         Yet, however well this policy has served the University and the
 state, it is apparent that significant numbers of potentially qualified
 California students are still underserved by the University.  Without an
 equitable admissions policy, along with outreach support from the
 University, this population will certainly grow as more students are
 denied the opportunity to enter the University.

         It is for these reasons that the President, Chancellors, and Vice
 Presidents* of the University of California unanimously urge, in the
 strongest possible terms, the continuation of the May 1988 Board of
 Regents admissions policy, together with increased efforts in early
 academic outreach.  For if we do not fulfill the promise of Daniel Coit
 Gilman, we cannot expect either the state or the University to grow into
 the 21st century.

 * This reference does not include General Counsel and Vice President--Legal
 Affairs Holst given his position as General Counsel of The Regents.

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 UC ACADEMIC COUNCIL ENDORSES AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

         The faculty leadership of the University of California has
 endorsed a set of resolutions calling on UC to maintain its support of
 affirmative action. In a related action, a group comprised of faculty
 representatives from all three segments of public higher education in
 California has voted to reaffirm its commitment to affirmative action.

          Over the past several months, the executive faculty committees on
 all nine UC campuses have passed resolutions voicing support for
 affirmative action. Each of these committees is part of the faculty
 government of the University of California, the UC Academic Senate.

          The resolution endorsed by most of these executive panels states:
 "The University should continue to act affirmatively to increase the
 participation of individuals from under represented groups, evaluating and
 modifying [its affirmative action] programs in order to strengthen them."

         The resolution was endorsed in June by the executive committee of
 the system wide Academic Senate, the Academic Council, and sent to UC
 President Jack Peltason. The Council requested that Peltason forward the
 faculty's position on the issue to the UC Board of Regents. Senate bodies
 on some UC campuses approved statements with wording that differed from
 this resolution, but the thrust of each statement was the same.

         "The faculty leadership of the University of California has spoken
 with a unified voice on this issue," said Academic Council Chair Daniel
 Simmons, a professor of law at UC Davis.

          "The view of the leadership is that while UC may wish to make
 changes in some affirmative action programs, it should not abandon its
 affirmative action efforts, but rather should enhance them."

         Each UC campus has its own Academic Senate "division," and each
 division has an executive committee. It is these committees that voiced
 support for affirmative action by approving resolutions with original
 wording drawn up by the Senate's University Committee on Affirmative
 Action.

          Support for the resolutions therefore came by vote of Academic
 Senate leaders, rather than by vote of the UC faculty as a whole, though
 on some campuses a larger legislative body gave its approval to a
 resolution as well. The resolution approved by most of the UC campuses,
 and by the system wide Academic Council, reads as follows:

         "The affirmative action programs undertaken by the University of
 California have made the University a better institution by making it a
 more diverse institution in terms of the gender, racial, and ethnic makeup
 of its faculty, students and staff.  This work is not yet finished. The
 University should continue to act affirmatively to increase the
 participation of individuals from underrepresented groups, evaluating and
 modifying these programs in order to strengthen them."

          In a related action, support for affirmative action has come from
 another faculty body, the Intersegmental Committee of the Academic Senates
 of The California Community Colleges, The California State University and
 the University of California. ICAS, as the group is known, deals with
 issues that jointly affect all three segments of California public higher
 education, such as student admissions and intersegmental transfer.

          On June 30, the ICAS leadership approved a resolution which said
 that ICAS "strongly opposes the concepts included in the anti-affirmative
 action legislation and initiatives and reaffirms its commitment to
 affirmative action in the recruitment, transfer and support of those
 historically underrepresented in higher education."

          The statement was signed by UC Academic Council Chair Simmons; by
 Regina Stanback-Stroud, president of the Academic Senate of the California
 Community Colleges; and by James Highsmith, chair of the Academic Senate
 of The California State University.
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