Existing law establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, and the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as the 2 segments of public postsecondary education in the state generally authorized to grant baccalaureate degrees. The Donahoe Higher Education Act sets forth the missions and functions of the segments of postsecondary education in this state. Provisions of the act apply to the University of California only to the extent that the regents act, by appropriate resolution, to make those provisions applicable. A provision of the act expresses the intent of the Legislature that, in determining the standards and criteria for undergraduate and graduate admissions to the University of California and the California State University, the governing bodies of the segments develop processes that, among other things, strive to be fair and are easily understandable.
This bill would require the trustees, and request the regents, before making any change in student eligibility policy that adds eligibility requirements that impact students across its segment, to coordinate with the other segment to align their respective student eligibility policies and to commission an independent study by a third-party research organization to assess the impact of the change in student eligibility policy on the eligibility rates of the graduates of public secondary schools who are members of underrepresented student groups.
The bill would also require, if either the trustees or the regents approve a change in student eligibility policy that adds eligibility requirements that impact students across its segment, that an implementation committee be convened to develop a multiyear plan for that segment to work with the public elementary and secondary school system, the California Community Colleges, and the governing body of the other segment to implement the change, and would require in those circumstances annual progress reports to the Governor, the Legislature, and the governing body of the other segment, as specified. If such a change in student eligibility requirements is approved by either the trustees or the regents between January 1, 2020, and the operative date of this bill, the bill would additionally require the trustees or request the regents, as applicable, to commission an independent study by a third-party research organization to assess the actual impact of this change, as specified.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.