Academic Council asks BOARS for its thoughts on SAT

On August 11th, the chair of the Academic Council sent the chair of BOARS the charge below to be accomplished by February 12th of next year, which happens to be Lincoln's birthday:

The Academic Council charges the 2026-27 Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) to: 1) assess the potential advantages and disadvantages of the use of standardized test scores in UC undergraduate admissions as well as the various ways that such test scores could be used in admissions decision-making; and 2) submit a final report and policy recommendations to the Academic Council by February 12, 2027. BOARS should recognize that the Assembly of the Academic Senate in 2020 endorsed the Standardized Testing Task Force (STTF) report’s recommendation that “the University revisit within five years whether the added value of the SAT/ACT still holds, using the methods employed in the STTF report,” and that standardized tests and the admissions context have since changed. As appropriate, BOARS may convene a subcommittee and identify subject matter specialists and other partners or consultants to assist in their study.

Full document at https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/council-chair-to-boars-charges-on-undergraduate-admissions.pdf.

Straws in the Wind - Part 438

From Inside Higher Ed: Thirty senators wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging his agency to process international student and scholar visas in time for the start of the academic year. Led by Alex Padilla, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, the letter cited “the ongoing unavailability of visa appointments during the peak visa application season for students and scholars.” No timely visa appointments are available for students at some embassies and consulates, the senators said. 

“These challenges come at a time when major academic institutions need skilled, international talent to begin their semesters. Without a fix, the repercussions will be felt across the academic and skilled-technical talent pipeline,” the letter argued...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/08/13/senators-prod-state-dept-process-international-visas. 

ICE Hazard

From the Daily Californian: The Berkeley International Office, or BIO, announced... that it is temporarily suspending all applications for Course Credit Curricular Practical Training, the program that allows international students to work in paid off-campus internships. The suspension follows an Aug. 12 memo from ICE warning all Student and Exchange Visitor Program-certified universities — nearly all American colleges — that officials who improperly authorize Curricular Practical Training, or CPT, could face personal liability. ICE threatened to remove universities’ abilities to enroll international students if they did not comply. CPT is a work authorization program that allows international students to work and gain practical experience off campus, either as a requirement of their degree or in exchange for course credit. 

...ICE urged that work authorizations only be approved for major requirements, meaning F-1 students* will be unable to apply for work opportunities in exchange for course credit... International students are still eligible for on-campus jobs, limited to 20 hours a week...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/uc-berkeley-yields-to-ice-threat-suspends-course-credit-work-applications-for-international-students/article_f7d3e264-99a5-456f-9ed0-87d48b1dc1be.html.

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*An F-1 visa is a non-immigrant academic student visa that allows foreign nationals to study full-time at an SEVP-certified college, university, high school, or language training program in the United States. SEVP = Student and Exchange Visitor Program.

People's Park

Meanwhile, back at the park...

From the San Francisco Standard: Over the decades, People’s Park at UC Berkeley has been different things to different people: a physical manifestation of the Free Speech movement, a place for teens to light a joint and throw DIY concerts, a neglected magnet for criminal behavior. Since January 2024, however, the main symbol for the park’s future has been a 17-foot wall of 160 stacked shipping containers erected around its rectangular perimeter. At the site, a red crane now extends into the sky and tall towers of glass have emerged from behind the barrier.

The city’s most controversial housing project is set to be completed by the time students arrive for next year’s fall semester. The $312 million Judith E. Heumann House, named for the disability rights pioneer, will offer apartment-style housing for more than 1,100 undergraduates. However, a long-promised project meant to house the people the development displaced has yet to begin...

No Berkeley housing fight has been this bitter... Protesters tore down a fence the university erected for preliminary soil testing in January 2021, months before the UC Board of Regents approved the project. What followed was years of sustained protest and escalating legal challenges from a coalition of NIMBY and activist groups, including Make UC a Good Neighbor and the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group.

On Jan. 4, 2024, the university moved to clear the park overnight during winter break, cutting down trees and erecting the shipping-container barrier. Seven protesters were arrested, some of whom had chained themselves to trees and equipment. State lawmakers rushed to pass laws to allow for the development, and a June 2024 California Supreme Court ruling put a nail in the coffin of the legal avenues to pushback. The law, Assembly Bill 1307 — the Make UC a Good Neighbor Act — negated one of the primary arguments against the project. The case, Make UC a Good Neighbor v. Regents of the University of California, was decided unanimously...

Full story at https://sfstandard.com/2026/08/06/peoples-park-berkeley-dorm-unhoused/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 437

From Inside Higher Ed: A judge has dismissed the Common Application Inc. and two other nonuniversity defendants from a lawsuit alleging a conspiracy among 32 selective private colleges and universities to use early-decision admissions to increase tuition. But Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts denied the institutions’ request to also dismiss the suit against them, allowing the case to continue.

At selective institutions, an applicant who takes the early-decision route generally has a better chance of acceptance, but they must promise to attend if offered admission. The students who filed this suit last August allege that—even though early-decision policies aren’t legally binding—the 32 institutions have agreed not to recruit or admit students who are accepted early decision to other colleges and universities, allowing institutions to charge the accepted students more...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/08/13/early-decision-lawsuit-proceeds-some-defendants-dismissed.

Less than meets the eye

On Aug. 13, the state senate Appropriations Committee passed AB 713 which has as its goal the hiring by UC of undocumented students. The Regents originally were moving to allow such hiring but halted the effort after the UC general counsel opined that it would violate federal law. Note that when you read the actual provisions of AB 713, it still leaves the decision to the Regents. (There is no such exemption in AB 713 for CSU or the community colleges.) The bill still needs the approval of the full state senate and the governor's signature.

See the full text of the bill below:

Text of AB 713 - AB-713 Public postsecondary education: student employment

Article  3.8. Employment

66029. (a) The University of California, California State University, or California Community Colleges shall not disqualify a student from being hired for an employment position due to their failure to provide proof of federal work authorization, except in either of the following cases:

(1) Where that proof is required by federal law.

(2) Where that proof is required as a condition of a grant that funds the particular employment position for which the student has applied.

(b) The University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges shall treat the prohibition on hiring undocumented noncitizens in Section 1324a(a) of Title 8 of the United States Code as inapplicable because that provision does not apply to any branch of state government.

(c) To the extent student employment is considered a “benefit” for purposes of federal law, this statute shall constitute authorization to provide that benefit for purposes of Section 1621(d) of Title 8 of the United States Code.

(d) The University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges shall implement this article by January 6, 2027.

(e) This article shall apply to the University of California, unless it is found to be inapplicable to the university, then, consistent with Section 67400, this article shall apply to the university only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, make it applicable.

SEC. 2. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

Source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB713.

Online UC Retirement Program

Your UC Retirement System

Description: The Your UC Retirement System class offers an overview of retirement benefits offered by UC.

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN? This class covers UC’s primary retirement benefits that provide a foundation for retirement income, and voluntary retirement benefits that offer additional saving opportunities in UC’s 403(b), 457(b) and DC plans.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Employees who want to learn about the benefits offered through the primary and voluntary retirement programs and how they work together to help prepare for a financially secure retirement.

DATE AND TIME: August 19, 9 AM

Sign up for Online Program at:

https://fmr.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ijclrx04Q7mPZlMcKN-2Yw#/registration.