
UC Berkeley boosts Latino admissions by 40% in one year - tropheusduboisi
https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/07/16/uc-berkeleys-push-for-more-diversity-shows-in-its-newly-admitted-class/
======
rbecker
Since the press release didn't bother to, lets compare UC Berkeley's (UCB)
admissions [1] to California's demographics (CAL) for 2018 [2], to see how
much work on diversity they have left to do:

    
    
                        UCB %    CAL %   UCB/CAL
      Black              5.04     5.51   0.92
      American Indian    0.44     0.35   1.27
      Latino            28.93    39.29   0.74
      Pacific Islander   0.18     0.36   0.49
      Asian             42.43    14.52   2.92
      White             18.53    36.64   0.51
    

That's odd. The press release doesn't mention them doing anything about
correcting the under-representation of white students, despite them being tied
with Pacific Islanders for most under-represented. In fact, they're not even
counted as an under-represented group (URG) in their tables [1].

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[1] [https://www.ucop.edu/institutional-research-academic-
plannin...](https://www.ucop.edu/institutional-research-academic-
planning/content-analysis/ug-admissions/ug-pages/admissions.html)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_California)

~~~
fxtentacle
I suppose that might due to ideology, similar to how the 2nd and 3rd wave of
feminism see things differently.

Do you want to ensure a fair future by enforcing equal treatment now? Or do
you want to rectify past wrongs by temporarily discriminating in the opposite
direction?

If the current student body was 90% white, then you'd need a very low white
admission rate to get it down to 36% like the CA average.

~~~
yostrovs
It depends who you ask your questions. If it's a poor white guy with family
who came here from Albania, maybe he shouldn't care about "past wrongs"?

------
wbraun
Affirmative action in California is banned by Proposition 209, which passed in
1996.

Its great they are making an effort to boost diversity, but I don't see how a
single year jump this large was accomplished without implementing affirmative
action.

The UC system already has an ongoing lawsuit over affirmative action in their
admission practices, it's a bit scary that they are now so blatantly violating
state law.

~~~
pmiller2
Based on the article, this was done mainly through targeted outreach. Are you
saying it constitutes affirmative action for a university to direct its
outreach efforts toward one part of the state versus another? Note that
average SAT, ACT, and GPA were unchanged from last year, so academic standards
were not compromised one iota.

~~~
wbraun
The UC system has a common application and students rarely apply to only one
school. The impacts of any outreach effort should be seen across the entire UC
system and not just Berkeley. Based on the data for the entire UC system, you
can see that is not the case [https://www.ucop.edu/institutional-research-
academic-plannin...](https://www.ucop.edu/institutional-research-academic-
planning/_files/factsheets/2020/fall-2020-admission-table-2-1.pdf)

What has changed though is that UCB has a new admissions dean.

~~~
pmiller2
> The impacts of any outreach effort should be seen across the entire UC
> system and not just Berkeley.

You say this as if I'm just supposed to accept it, but I don't believe it.
UCB, along with UCLA, are the top tier of the UC system. I don't think it's a
big stretch to think that someone who might be applying to UCB wouldn't be
applying to UCSD.

I'm not coming straight out and saying you're wrong here, but I am saying this
is a statement that needs supporting.

~~~
eindiran
Anecdotally, I applied to only 2 UCs: Berkeley and UCSD. Several of my friends
that applied to (and some of whom who attended) Berkeley and UCLA also applied
to UCSD, UCSC, or UCSB.

------
yasp
At the expense of how many Asian admissions?

~~~
jollofricepeas
On average wealthy Indian and Chinese have more experience and education than
white students.

Based on population numbers alone, the top US colleges would be solely
dominated by this group.

Are American universities for wealthy international students from Asia only or
US citizens?

If citizens only, your statement is a non-issue.

~~~
tropheusduboisi
There are enough competitive Asian-American US citizens for the the statement
to not be a non-issue.

