Exregent rips Blum on UC entry aid
Former Regent Ward Connerly, who rose to national prominence opposing affirmative action decades ago, waded into the University of California’s admissions scandal Friday, saying a current regent like Richard Blum, who admits using clout to help a family member get into college, engaged in nepotism.
Connerly and other education advocates spoke to The Chronicle about the controversy now enveloping Blum, husband of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Blum is the unnamed regent accused in a state audit of improperly using his influence to help an applicant get into UC Berkeley. But on Thursday, Blum told The Chronicle that he has been writing letters on behalf of family and friends for years, and sending them directly to chancellors at many UC campuses, rather than providing them to the admissions office as required under the regents’ ethics policy. He said he didn’t believe he was doing anything wrong.
“If it’s your family, it’s nepotism,” said Connerly, president of the No on 16 campaign that is fighting a measure on the November ballot to repeal Proposition 209, the antiaffirmative action law he wrote that has been state law since 1997. Prop. 209 outlaws affirmative action in the state’s admissions and public hiring decisions.
Although regents are allowed to write recommendations on behalf of anyone, they may not bypass the methods available to anyone else. The rules are set forth in the regents’ policy 2201, which since 1996 has said regents “should not seek to influence inappropriately the outcome of admissions decisions beyond sending letters of recommendation, where appropriate, through the regular admissions process and officers.”
“I did it a bunch of times,” Blum told The Chronicle. “Usually friends. My cousin’s brother wanted to get into Davis. They’d send me a letter and tell me why it’s a good kid, and I’ll send it on to the chan
cellor. Been doing it forever.”
Blum has been a regent since 2002.
On Friday, Connerly, who was a regent from 1993 to 2005, said the reason regents are prohibited from going directly to chancellors with their recommendations is that it “feeds the impression that the admissions process is not fair.”
Connerly said UC gets taxpayer money, so its admission system “has a duty to treat everybody fairly, equally, and on the basis of merit. There’s no way you can define merit as the highest bidder, or for a friend — or as nepotism.”
Blum did not respond to a request for comment.
Regents Chair John Pérez said Friday that he stands by a statement he issued Thursday saying the “UC Board of Regents takes these matters very seriously, and any violations will be promptly and appropriately addressed.”
He said that UC’s ethics and audit compliance office is reviewing the information “to determine whether the alleged conduct violates” the regents policy, in place since 1996.
Feinstein’s office on Thursday declined to comment.
Applicants to UC who are the least likely to have access to a powerful regent’s admissions help include “lowincome, hardworking Black, Latinx (and) Native Americans,” said Michele Siqueiros, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity, a statewide advocacy group, noting that they are “significantly underrepresented in the UC.”
“All Californians lose when only those in power with privilege, wealth and connections, game admissions in order to cheat their way into a coveted spot,” Siqueiros said. “The public deserves more than an apology from the UC or Regent Blum. We need to ensure that this behavior will not be tolerated, that those involved will suffer consequences and that reparations are made to students denied access as a result.”
Black students represented 3.6% of applicants admitted to UC Berkeley as freshmen in fall 2019, and 5.4% of those admitted to UCLA. Latinos made up about 16% of freshmen admitted at each campus.
Both Siqueiros and Connerly used the admissions scandal to fuel their opposing positions on Proposition 16, the ballot measure to overturn Prop. 209.
“The issue that ties all of this together is public trust,” Connerly told news outlets at a Friday news conference he held to oppose Prop. 16. “Faith in the institution. Faith that the process is fair.”
Siqueiros said ignoring affirmative action is not the way to instill fairness.
“Ward Connerly and the Proposition 16 opposition are under a delusion that the status quo is working,” she said. “The truth is our educational system does work for those with wealth and privilege who can buy their way into a university. But it is not working for the thousands of qualified, talented Black, Latinx, Asian American, Native American students kept out by systemic racism.”
“I did it a bunch of times. Usually friends . ... They’d send me a letter and tell me why it’s a good kid, and I’ll send it on to the chancellor. Been doing it forever.”
UC Regent Richard Blum