Perspective of the California Postsecondary Education Commission on Educational Equity.

This publication sets forward the California State Postsecondary Education Commission's historical and present perspective on educational equity in California higher education and was prompted by Governor Wilson's June 1, 1995 Executive Order to End Preferential Treatment and to Promote Individual Opportunity Based on Merit (Executive Order W-124-95). The statement draws on the Master Plan for Higher Education, the California Education Code, and the Commission's adopted policies and recommendations on educational equity. The Commission believes that educational equity is vital to the state's economic and social future and that the focus of attention ought to be on the preparation of students for college, particularly for meeting eligibility requirements for California State University and the University of California institutions. The Commission notes that it has long supported effective collaborative student preparation programs whose goals are to enhance the number of students who are admissible from groups whose historical rates of eligibility for California's public universities have been low. Additionally, this perspective stresses the importance of developing campus environments that are supportive for all students. The Commission reiterates its opposition to any practice that involves quotas, the predominance in the admissions process of any one factor other than eligibility, the lowering of academic standards, or the enrollment of ineligible students through other than limited special action efforts. (Author/JB)