"This is an admissions process that grants preferences to the privileged," said attorney Joseph Jaramillo of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
The weight given to the Scholastic Assessment Test, an examination of English and math fluency, and advanced-placement grades has a discriminatory effect on blacks, Latino/as and Filipinos, and lacks "educational justification," the suit said.
Advanced-placement courses, worth an additional grade point in UC admissions ratings, are far more available in predominantly white high schools, Jaramillo said.
"What advanced-placement and SAT scores don't show is talent and ability to succeed in college," said one of the plaintiffs, Justine Certeza, a first-year student at UC-San Diego who was rejected by Berkeley.
The lawsuit seeks court orders requiring Berkeley to admit Certeza and six other minority students and adopt an admissions policy that gives qualified blacks, Latino/as and Filipinos "a fair and equal opportunity."
Such policies are still possible despite California's ban on race and sex preferences in state and local government programs, the lawsuit said.
UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl said the campus retains "a strong commitment to access and diversity" despite "a new set of legal limitations" - the UC regents' ban on affirmative action in admissions, later broadened to all state and local government programs by Proposition 209.
Minority enrollment nevertheless fell dramatically last fall in the first class at Berkeley affected by the regents' action.
02-03-99
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