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1st
appeared 19 March 1999
Mission Bay and "Four Percent"
Proposal Get Regents' Approval
UPDATE:
San Francisco, March 19, 1999, 12:45p.m.
Full UC Board of Regents approve Mission Bay's first building and four percent
eligibility proposal.
Two major UC initiatives received overwhelming approval
yesterday (March 18) by committees of the Board of Regents: plans for the first building
at UCSF's new campus at Mission Bay were endorsed by the Grounds & Buildings and
Finance committees, and a four percent eligibility proposal for UC freshman admission was
approved by the Educational Policy committee.
The full Board of Regents, at their meeting today (March 19), approved the design,
environmental impact, and financing plans for Mission Bay's first building, as well as
adopted the new UC eligibility criteria, making the top four percent of students from all
California public high schools eligible to attend UC.
Mission Bay
 Construction of the new laboratory building will be the
first step in the creation of UCSF's 43-acre research and teaching campus at the center of
the larger Mission Bay development planned for the abandoned Southern Pacific railroad
yards. With about 240,000 square feet of usable space, the new building, called Building
24 in reference to the lot number where it will be located, will contain slightly more
space than UCSF's existing Mission Center
Building.
Scientists and students working in the new UCSF building will search for the fundamental
discoveries essential for the conquest of disease -- research that will allow us to
understand the underpinnings of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, AIDS, birth
defects and other disorders. UCSF research at Mission Bay will focus on the interaction of
cells, molecules, and even atoms as they relate to human biology. UCSF expects to begin
construction of the new building later this year with completion scheduled for 2002.
Building 24 will house two umbrella research teams -- Structural and Chemical Biology, and
Molecular and Cell Biology. A new Center for Advanced Technology also will be located in
the new facility.
Four Percent Eligibility Plan
Academic Senate faculty developed the four percent proposal, as well as two other
eligibility amendments, following more than a year of analysis on how the University could
increase the percentage of UC-eligible students from 11.1 percent to 12.5 percent as
required by the state Master Plan for Higher Education. Granting eligibility to students
who rank in the top four percent of each high school class based on UC-required courses
will make nearly 3,600 additional students eligible.
The plan was shepherded by Governor Gray Davis, who yesterday dispelled some popular
misconceptions about the plan, such as it would displace students who are currently
eligible on a statewide basis and that it was intended as a backhanded effort to fight
Proposition 209.
"We're increasing opportunity and we're rewarding excellence," said Davis, who
added that the plan does not "lower the bar" for achievement nor does it
guarantee a more racially or ethnically diverse student population.
Meredith Khachigian did not agree with Davis and was the only Regent to vote against
the plan. "The four percent proposal whittles away academic excellence," she
said.
Other regents who were previously concerned that the new criteria would compromise UC's
tradition of academic excellence, said they had changed their minds.
Regent Ward Connerly said he was reluctant about the plan as recently as a few days ago
but was now in full favor. He urged his fellow board members not to "look upon these
'four-percenters' as people we're helping. These are high achievers."
The University projects that the largest growth in eligible students will be from high
schools in rural areas followed by those in urban areas. "This approach increases
geographic diversity while maintaining high academic
standards," Davis said. "It doesn't matter what school you attend -- it
matters how well you do at the school you attend."
The Regents also voted on two other eligibility amendments. They approved the inclusion of
a visual and performing arts course among the 15 year-long high school courses
students must take to become UC-eligible. This change fully aligns the courses required by
UC and the California State University system.
The committee referred back to the faculty for further review the third eligibility
proposal presented to them, which lowers the amount of extra credit applied to a student's
grade point average for taking honors courses.
The new criteria will be phased in over a number of years. The four percent eligibility
criteria will be implemented with the applicants for the fall of 2001. In 2003, the visual
and performing arts requirement will become one of 15 UC-required courses.
Links:
UCSF press release on Mission
Bay
UC
Newswire press release on eligibility criteria
Daybreak's
Mission Bay archives
Chancellor's Mission Bay website
Source: Bill Gordon, News Services
and Paula Murphy, Daybreak editor |
