The Conditions for Admission: Access, Equity, and the Social Contract of Public Universities

353 Pages·2007·1.21 MB·English

by  John Douglass

THE CONDITIONS
FOR ADMISSION
John Aubrey Douglass
Stanford University Press
the conditions for admission
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T H E C O N D I T I O N S
F O R A D M I S S I O N
Access, Equity, and the Social Contract
of Public Universities
john aubrey douglass
stanford university press
Stanford, California
2007
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©2007 by John Aubrey Douglass. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system without the prior
written permission of Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free,
archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Douglass, John Aubrey.
The conditions for admission : access, equity, and
the social contract of public universities / John Aubrey
Douglass.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8047-5558-0 (cloth : alk. paper)—
ISBN 978-0-8047-5559-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Public universities and colleges—United States—
Admission. 2. Educational equalization—United States.
I. Title. II. Title: Access, equity, and the social contract
of public universities.
LB2351.2.D68 2007
378.1(cid:2)610973—dc22
2006100234
Typeset by Newgen in 10.5/13 Bembo
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To my inspiring daughters,
Claire and Aubrey,
and my beloved Jill
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contents
List of Figures and Tables ix
Preface xi
Part I B uilding a Public University and Creating
the Social Contract 1
1. The Public University Movement
and California 3
2. Building a Higher Education
System and Broadening Access 31
3. Inclusion, Exclusion, and the Issue
of Race 46
Part II T he Managerial University and
the Post–World War II Era 77
4. The Master Plan, the SAT, and Managing
Demand 79
5. Countervailing Forces: Standardized
Testing and Affi rmative Action 93
6. For Every Action a Reaction: Race,
Bakke, and the Social Contract Revisited 120
Part III M odern Battles over Equity,
Affi rmative Action, and Testing 149
7. California’s Affi rmative-Action Fight 151
8. The First Aftermath: Outreach and
Comprehensive Review 184
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viii Contents
9. The Second Aftermath: President Atkinson
Versus the SAT 214
Part IV W hither the Social Contract? The Postmodern
World and the Primacy of Higher Education 235
10. Perils and Opportunities: Autonomy,
Merit, and Privatization 237
11. The Waning of America’s Higher
Education Advantage 261
Notes 293
Index 323
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figures and tables
Figures
2.1 Enrollment growth in California public
higher education: 1900–1950 38
2.2 Percentage of Berkeley and UCLA freshman
admitted as special action: 1930–1970 42
4.1 Berkeley and UCLA admissions: Freshmen, advance
standing (transfers), and special action students: 1930–1960 89
5.1 University of California special action
freshman admissions: 1960–1990 118
7.1 University of California freshman eligibility rates:
1983, 1990, and 1996 155
7.2 University of California total minority
enrollment by racial group: 1980 and 1995 157
7.3 California high school graduates and University of
California enrollment by racial/ethnic group: 1995 158
8.1 Post-Proposition 209 changes in underrepresented minority
enrollment in the UC system by campus: 1997–1999 189
8.2 Funding allocations for University of California
outreach by program area: 2000–2001 196
8.3 University of California freshman underrepresented minority
applications, admissions, and enrollment and post-proposition
209 policies: 1995–2002 210
10.1 Differential fees among a sample group of public and private
universities: 2003–2004 253
11.1 U.S. high school graduating classes of 1972 and 1992
and accumulative higher education degree attainment
nine years later (in percentage) 265
ix
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