Retiring UC President Criticizes Dropping Affirmative Action
SAN FRANCISCO
University of California President Richard C. Atkinson is leaving his post the same way he came in, firmly opposed to banning race and gender from the admissions process.
“I continue to believe those were the wrong decisions,” Atkinson said last month in a written farewell presented to the UC Board of Regents.
Atkinson was chancellor of UC San Diego in July 1995, when regents voted to stop considering race or gender in admissions. He was picked as president in August of that year after an earlier search attempt ended in embarrassment when the selected candidate abruptly backed out.
