SACRAMENTO — State Sen. Tom Hayden proposed a code of ethics Thursday to destroy a "hidden subculture of favoritism" in California's university system that has allowed the rich and politically connected to be given special consideration for admission to prestigious UCLA.
Hayden (D-Santa Monica), who chairs a select committee on higher education, said the code would prohibit elected and appointed officials from intervening on behalf of applicants to public universities.
The lack of such a code, he said, has enabled members of the Board of Regents and other officials over the years to "pull strings to gain admission for their favored applicants" to UCLA.
"It is a poisonous lesson in cynicism that this favoritism teaches our students," he said. "The lesson is that society is rigged with two standards--one for the privileged and another for everyone else--[and] that you have to have pull and connections to get anywhere in life."
Hayden said he discovered that there was no ethical code governing admissions after newspapers revealed the existence of a backdoor admissions system at UCLA that permitted preferential treatment for children of the well-to-do and well-connected.
The Times reported last week that several regents who voted to abolish affirmative action for minorities and women in admissions had privately tried to get relatives, friends and the children of business associates into UCLA. In many cases they were admitted to the university while thousands of more qualified students were denied.
UC President Richard Atkinson has called for an internal examination of admissions. UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young has acknowledged that his staff may have "acted improperly" in isolated incidents but said the special attention paid to donors and other influential people does not mean unqualified students will be admitted.
Hayden said he was hopeful that the code of ethics would be adopted by the regents as well as the Legislature.
Reached at his home in San Diego, Board of Regents Chairman Clair Burgener said some form of ethical guidelines for the board might be "helpful" and acceptable to his colleagues.
Burgener, who voted against affirmative action, acknowledged that he writes about "four or five" letters of recommendation a year on behalf of students seeking admission to various campuses of the University of California.
