The University of California’s grand experiment with “equity” in college admissions is running headfirst into an inconvenient reality: thousands of professors say incoming students are showing up without the basic academic skills needed to handle university coursework.
UC ditched standardized testing requirements in 2020, first going test-optional amid the COVID panic and then fully test-blind, all in the name of “equity.”
Regents claimed the tests discriminated against students of color and lower-income applicants, even though a faculty task force had found the opposite: the SAT and ACT were strong predictors of college success and actually helped identify talented disadvantaged students who might otherwise have been overlooked. The data was ignored. Ideology won.
Six years later, the results are in and they are catastrophic.
According to the LA Times, more than 3,000 UC faculty, including STEM professors and department chairs, have signed open letters demanding the return of the tests.
At UC San Diego, a faculty report documented a roughly 30-fold surge between 2020 and 2025 in incoming freshmen whose math skills tested below high school level.
Of those, about 70% fell below middle school levels, reaching roughly one in twelve students in the entering class. Professors report having to reteach basic arithmetic and algebra while trying to deliver college material.
Hellbound and Down 