We noted on this blog that there was a Zoom meeting of the Assembly of the systemwide Academic Senate last Thursday. Yours truly was able to attend only parts of that meeting due to medical issues. However, at around he same time, BOARS released a "roadmap" concerning UC admissions policy.* It proposes to create working groups to study the SAT/testing issue and the A-G requirements.
There was some controversy at the Assembly over the working group for A-G. It wasn't exactly clear what the concern was but yours truly suspects it had something to do with the recent Ethnic Studies brouhaha. ??? In any event, despite an effort for the Assembly officially to express a view that there was no need for more A-G study, the Assembly did not take that position. So there will be more A-G study,
More concerning was the SAT/testing issue. According to a report in the LA Times,** the number of signatures of UC STEM faculty on the letter pushing for reinstatement of the SAT for incoming STEM majors has grown to over 1,400.
It should be noted that the BOARS roadmap appears to have been prepared before the letter and proposes moving along at the usual Senate deliberative pace. While we have noted the seeming impracticality of having an SAT requirement only for some prospective majors, we suggested a more responsive and rapid effort over the summer - not over another full academic year as the roadmap suggests - to create an interim report that could be discussed at the September Regents meeting. (The Regents are surely aware of the controversy; they read the LA Times.) Although a concern was expressed that waiting a year for a report pushes back actually implementing something at least a year, that seems to be the likely scenario at this point.
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*https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-academic-senate-announces-plan-review-admissions-policies; https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/committees/boars/documents/uc-academic-senate-boars-roadmap-executive-summary-06-11-2026.pdf; https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/committees/boars/documents/uc-academic-senate-boars-roadmap-06-05-2026.pdf; https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/committees/boars/documents/academic-senate-chair-to-faculty-re-boars-roadmap-06-11-2026.pdf.
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