What needs to happen on the SAT: Pay attention Academic Council chair!

As blog readers will know, a large group of STEM faculty released a statement in effect saying that undergraduate admissions to UC should reinstate the SAT as one of the criteria.* When we initially reported, the number of signatories to that statement was 600. That's a lot. But now, the number is 1100. That's more than a lot. From the Daily Cal:

More than 1,100 STEM faculty across the UC system have signed a petition calling for the reinstatement of standardized testing scores by 2027 in the admission process for STEM majors, citing student underpreparedness and a lack of faculty oversight. UC Berkeley faculty were among the first to sign the petition.

The petition includes signatures from Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna and Fields medalist Richard Borcherds, both UC Berkeley faculty, and is accompanied by an open letter that describes “severe” gaps in preparation, more time spent on prerequisite material, needing to reteach middle school mathematics concepts and risk of degree incompletion...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/uc/uc-berkeley-faculty-first-to-sign-1-000-strong-systemwide-petition-for-reinstatement-of-standardized/article_d8fd756e-b14d-4cdd-8280-3ff0e530af6e.html.

In response, as blog readers will know, the chair of the Academic Council - the systemwide Academic Senate - issued a non-statement saying that BOARS considers admissions. Duh! The chair needs to get off his tuchus (Google it!), set up some kind of working group to consider the issue over the summer, with at least a preliminary discussion to be held at the UC Regents meeting in September.

Note that there are complicated issues raised. The signatories seem to want the SAT just for STEM majors. But how a two-tier admissions system would work or even could work is unclear. Many students change their minds about their majors, or don't know what they want to major in, when they start college. Most likely, a two-tier system would not be workable. All the more reason for a study and discussion to occur.

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*Our past posts on this issue:

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/05/surprise-you-have-to-know-math-to-do_01518665009.html; https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/05/surprise-you-have-to-know-math-to-do.html.

Squeeze 'em harder, says LAO

Summary section from a recent LAO report:

[This] Brief Analyzes Nonresident Supplemental Tuition Rates at the University of California (UC). 

In addition to the tuition charges other undergraduates pay at UC, nonresident students pay nonresident supplemental tuition (NRST). UC charges the same NRST rate across all nine of its general campuses. In response to legislative interest, we analyzed whether opportunities exist to raise additional NRST revenue. In particular, we focused on opportunities for raising NRST revenue at UC’s three highest‑demand campuses—UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles (UCLA), and UC San Diego (UCSD).

Several Findings Indicate Higher NRST Rates Could Be Warranted. 

As a university system, UC is unusual in charging the same NRST rate across all its campuses. Other major public university systems charge more at their flagship campus. For example, in 2025‑26, nonresident rates at the flagship University of Michigan, Ann Arbor campus are more than 4.5 times higher than at the Flint campus. Demand from nonresident students also is notably stronger at UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD than at the other UC campuses. These three campuses receive more nonresident applications than the remaining six UC campuses combined, have the lowest admission rates, and enroll the highest shares of nonresident undergraduates. In addition, our UC‑specific research, together with national research on selective universities, indicates that aggregate nonresident enrollment does not decline as NRST rates increase. One reason this might be the case is that families could view a higher sticker price as an indicator of higher quality. Another reason could be that demand for selective universities is so strong and admission rates so low that many families are willing to pay higher NRST rates to secure a coveted enrollment spot.

Recommend Piloting Higher NRST Rates at Highest‑Demand Campuses.

If the Legislature wanted to pursue higher NRST rates, we recommend a four‑year pilot involving UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD. We recommend beginning the pilot in 2027‑28, as UC already has published its NRST rates for 2026‑27. If UC were to raise the NRST rate for 2027‑28 by $6,000 at UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD, compared to an increase of $2,000 at the other UC campuses, we estimate an additional $20 million in NRST revenue would be generated (ramping up to $80 million in year four). This additional revenue could be used to supplement core funds at UC or offset state General Fund in response to a state budget deficit or competing state budget priorities. While the pilot is in place, we recommend UC collect and report data on the impacts of the higher NRST rates at the three selected campuses, including impacts on the composition of the undergraduate nonresident student body.

Full brief at https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2026/5183/2026-27_Budget_Nonresident_Tuition_Rates_at_UC_051226.pdf.

Straws in the Wind - Part 360

From Yale Daily News: First-year and transfer applicants to Yale College will be required to submit either their SAT or ACT scores beginning this fall. The change, which Yale announced in a Wednesday evening press release after updating its webpage on standardized testing, reinstates a pre-pandemic mandate after six admissions cycles in which SAT and ACT score submissions were not required. Yale axed the requirement for undergraduate applicants to submit standardized test scores in 2020, then required the submission of either SAT, ACT, International Baccalaureate or Advanced Placement scores under a test-flexible policy beginning in 2024.

“Academic excellence is the foundation of the Yale College experience, and, likewise, is the core component of our admissions process,” Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis said in the press release. “SAT and ACT scores are strong predictors of a student’s future Yale academic performance, and, when considered thoughtfully as part of a whole person review, they can help identify well-prepared candidates, especially those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.”

The return to a test-mandatory policy follows a recommendation from the Presidential Council on Yale College Admissions, a nine-member group formed by University President Maurie McInnis in fall 2025 whose membership includes Lewis, other Yale administrators and former New York governor George Pataki ’67. The council’s work follows previous efforts by Yale College to review its admissions processes, including after the Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that affirmative action is unlawful. The group also “considered recent executive orders and guidelines from federal agencies” in its work, according to a Yale webpage...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/yale-reinstates-sat-act-requirement-after-six-years-of-flexible-policy.

New Dean Today

From the Daily Bruin: A distinguished professor in urban planning will become the permanent dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs on June 1. Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, who has worked at UCLA for 35 years and served as the interim dean since January 2023, said her appointment represents a continuation of initiatives she began as interim dean – including new academic programs and expanded student support... 

During her time as interim dean, the school launched a Master of Real Estate Development program and approved a Master of Global Public Affairs degree, which Loukaitou-Sideris said is expected to begin in two years. The school also introduced a certificate program in artificial intelligence for public affairs with UCLA Extension, which is the university’s continuing education institution...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/05/24/interim-dean-of-luskin-school-of-public-affairs-soon-to-be-permanently-instated.

Straws in the Wind - Part 359

From the Yale Daily News: Conversations around grade inflation in the Ivy League turned into action... when Harvard announced that 70 percent of its faculty voted in favor of a policy to cap A grades at 20 percent for each course, allowing for up to four additional A’s per class, beginning in fall 2027. [The] vote marked a major shift by Harvard to confront grade inflation that coincides with similar efforts at Yale, which are in earlier stages. Yale professors, while decrying that grade inflation contributes to student stress, perfectionism and difficulty distinguishing academic performance, have described the issue as a collective action problem, in which stricter grading by individual faculty  — and universities — comparatively disadvantages their own students.

...In interviews with the News, Yale professors expressed support for Harvard’s new grade cap as a meaningful step by a leading university to combat grade inflation. Many still pointed out what they described as imperfections in the system, including a lack of nuance between seminars and lectures, the possibility of a proliferation of A-minuses and a focus away from intellectual growth. 

...According to a 2023 report..., 79 percent of grades in Yale College in the 2022–23 school year were A’s or A-minuses.

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/after-harvard-passes-grade-cap-yale-faculty-say-bravo-for-first-step.

The Budget Process

After having received the governor's May Revise budget proposal for 2026-27, the two houses of the legislature have been formulating their own versions. Under the state constitution, the legislature must pass a budget by June 15 or be penalized. But it is left to the legislature to define what a "budget" is, thanks to court decisions. So it is possible for discussions with the governor to continue after that date, if the legislature passes something labeled a budget. 

Because Democrats dominate the legislature, it is essentially Democrats that matter in the process. Senate Democrats have produced a budget document that is mainly a shopping list of proposals without a complete tabular presentation. It appears from the document that reserves will be falling under their plan (i.e., the budget is in deficit). 

The higher ed portion doesn't mention UC and mainly concerns adjustments for community colleges. It does contain an increase in the Middle Class Scholarship program which has some benefit for UC indirectly. You can find the Senate Democrats' document at:

https://sbud.senate.ca.gov/system/files/2026-05/may-28-2026-foundation-for-the-future-senate-version-of-the-budget_0.pdf.

In theory, the legislature could pass a budget and the governor could veto it. That is not going to happen. The governor could use his line-item veto to trim some elements. However, what is more likely to occur is that the two houses and the governor will get together, reconcile differences, and then enact a budget, even if the actual process extends beyond June 15.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 167

From the Harvard Crimson: The Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers plans to picket through Commencement after its 27th bargaining session with Harvard ended Thursday without a contract, pushing the walkout into its 31st day — the longest strike in the union’s history. In an email sent two days before Thursday’s session, HGSU-UAW told the University it would consider a membership vote to end the strike if Harvard moved on five core issues: paid immigration leave, an agency shop, a grievance process for harassment and discrimination, paid medical leave, and pay parity between teaching fellows and research assistants.

University representatives held firm on two of those demands Thursday, declining to advance proposals on an agency shop or a union-supervised grievance process for Title IX cases, according to HGSU-UAW president Denish K. Jaswal. Harvard’s lawyers told the union the prior week that they were “considering” the grievance proposal but were not prepared to make a counteroffer...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/5/26/hgsu-strike-longest-history/.