SACRAMENTO — University of California President Robert Dynes offered a vigorous defense Thursday of admissions practices that allow many students who score below average on the SAT entrance examination to attend the system's most prestigious campuses, even as high-scoring students are rejected.
In a 30-minute speech to an education conference, Dynes said that creativity, imagination, motivation and work ethic must be taken into account along with traditional standards such as the SAT in judging any student bound for the UC system.
He argued that diversity of students remains an extraordinarily important goal for a sprawling university system that represents one of the most varied places on the planet, saying, "We still have a long way to go."
UC admissions -- Articles on University of California admissions that ran in the California section on Thursday and Friday incorrectly implied that UC's two-year-old "comprehensive review" policy emphasizes personal achievements more than grades and test scores in considering applicants. Under the policy, UC considers personal factors as well as academic ones for every applicant, but academics remain the top priority in the procedure.
Dynes also said the university had not done enough to educate the public on the intricacies of the admissions system and explain the rationale for favoring a lower-scoring student over others who scored very high on the SAT.
"I need the help of all those who share the vision of an institution that is both excellent and diverse, an institution in fact that is excellent in part because of its diversity," he said.
The admissions controversy began when The Times reported the findings of a confidential report to the UC Board of Regents that strongly criticized UC Berkeley's admissions practices. The main author of the report, regents Chairman John J. Moores, argued that admitting less-than-qualified students could erode the quality of the system's top campus.
UC Regent Ward Connerly, who led the successful effort to ban racial affirmative action, has suggested the new procedures could be a back-door return to race-based preferences. UC officials deny that allegation. Moores' report did not contain racial or ethnic breakdowns.
Over the past two years the system has shifted to a procedure called comprehensive review, an approach that places less emphasis on test scores and grades and more on such factors as leadership, socioeconomic challenges and personal achievement.
At UC Berkeley and UCLA, several thousand students with SAT scores exceeding 1400 were not admitted to some programs in recent years while hundreds of others with below-average scores gained entrance to the prestigious campuses. Earlier this month Dynes agreed to launch a broad analysis of admissions at UC campuses.
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