UC donors’ children were inappropriately admitted to Cal and UCLA, audit finds
Four University of California campuses unfairly admitted at least 64 students between academic years 2013-14 and 2018-19 because of their connections to donors and university staff, according to a report released by the California State Auditor on Tuesday.
UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara admitted 22 of the students as student-athletes despite not having athletic qualifications to compete. UC Berkeley also admitted 42 of the students through its regular admissions process despite them not having competitive academic qualifications, the report found.
The majority of the 64 students were white. At least half had annual family incomes of $150,000 or more, according to the report.
“The university has allowed for improper influence in admissions decisions, and it has not treated applicants fairly or consistently,” State Auditor Elaine Howle said in her report.
The report also found that neither UC Berkeley nor UCLA has developed clear methodologies to explain their decisions when they admit lower-rated students instead of higher-rated candidates. UCLA, for instance, admitted 1,100 students in academic year 2019-20 whom were rated lower than “Recommend for Admission.” The school didn’t clearly articulate why those students were admitted, according to the report.
The audit comes more than a year after federal prosecutors charged dozens across the country for paying someone to take SAT and ACT exams for their children and bribing college officials, and 16 months after Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner Horvath, D-Encinitas, requested Howle for an audit on UC’s admission policies. A former UCLA men’s soccer coach Jorge Salcedo pled guilty in July for receiving $200,000 in bribes to facilitate the admissions of two students.
The four campuses have a highly competitive application process — UC Berkeley, for instance, accepted only 19% of freshmen and transfer students who applied for this academic year. But the report found instances of improper influences in the cases of several students who got into those campuses.
A ‘VIP student’
In one case at UC Berkeley, an assistant coach told a recruiting agent that the school can possibly offer early admission to a student if the student’s family is “willing to establish their legacy with Berkeley” by donating money to the coach’s team. The student, after admission, never played for the team, according to the report.
Applicants ranging from a babysitter for a colleague of the former director of undergraduate admissions to a child of a prominent alumnus got admitted to the four campuses despite receiving low scores from those who reviewed the students’ applications, according to the report.
At UC Berkeley, one of those applicants was referred by an assistant director in the admissions office as the “VIP student... whose family is (a) potential donor.”
In one case, a UC regent wrote a letter to UC Berkeley’s chancellor advocating for an applicant who was on the waitlist at UC Berkeley. After the letter was forwarded to the admissions office, the applicant was admitted despite only having a 26% chance of doing so based on the ratings given by those who reviewed the students’ application, according to the report.
The report recommended UC leadership require campuses to establish and follow predetermined criteria for how they will admit their students. The campuses should also verify prospective student-athletes’ athletic talents and review donation records for indicators of inappropriate activity, the report said.
The report also recommended the UC’s Office of the President oversee UC Berkeley’s admissions process for at least three admissions cycles starting next year.
Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, said in a statement that he’s disappointed to see UC engage in unfair admissions practices.
“Generations of young people from diverse backgrounds see UC as an opportunity for a brighter future, and the system failed them every time someone less qualified is admitted in their place,” he said.
UC acting on findings
In his response to the report, UC President Michael V. Drake didn’t specify any actions he will take, saying many of the report’s recommendations are similar to what the university system has largely implemented over the past year.
“I have zero tolerance on matters of integrity, and will do everything I can to ensure inappropriate admissions do not happen on any of our campuses,” Drake said.
In a statement, UCLA said it remains committed to a transparent admissions process. All of the athletics-related cases occurred before the school’s athletics department adopted a number of additional safeguards, the university said.
“That said, UCLA prides itself upon acting on evidence-based data and recommendations as part of our culture to continuously improve,” the university said. “To that end, we implemented all recommendations from two systemwide UC audits aimed at strengthening the system’s admissions practices and policies.”
In her open letter, UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ called the allegations in the report “highly disturbing.” The university will investigate those allegations, she said.
Still, she said she has confidence that the school’s current admissions policies are sound, after changes such as adding more oversight and more thoroughly documenting how admissions decisions are made.
But Howle said individual campuses such as UCLA have not implemented some of the system’s recommendations, such as adopting a policy prohibiting communication between development and admissions offices about prospective students.
“Left unaddressed, these issues will continue to harm qualified applicants who apply to the university,” she wrote.
This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 11:32 AM.
