UCLA Professor Charges the University Is Cheating on Admissions and Unlawfully Admitting Unqualified Black Students

Over the past two years the number of black freshmen at UCLA has more than doubled. Now a professor at the university is charging that blacks are getting preferential treatment in the admissions process. If true, this would be a violation of state law.

UCLA political science professor Tim Groseclose has resigned from a university admissions committee and issued a scathing report on the university’s admissions procedures. Professor Groseclose charges that the university is “cheating” by illegally taking race into account during the admissions process. He further charges that the university is engaged in a coverup of an unlawful practice by denying him access to admissions data that would prove his assertions.

Groseclose believes that many black applicants to UCLA have come to the conclusion that by mentioning their race or discussing racial issues in their application essays they can win an advantage in the admissions process.

Groseclose also states that African Americans were overrepresented among the large group of 150 individuals assigned to read application essays. He further asserts that admissions officials were under intense pressure from the media and constituent groups on campus to boost the number of black students.

The university has appointed an independent research firm to investigate whether its holistic admissions approach is in compliance with California law.

Copyright © 2008. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.