University of California Regent William Bagley is planning to propose that the Board of Regents overturn its 1995 decision banning the use of race or ethnicity in the university system's admissions process.
California's Proposition 209 forbids the use of racial or ethnic preferences in the admissions decisions of any state higher education institution.
Bagley said he does not intend to change the law with his proposal.
He said the State University System of California needs to regain the reputation among minority students it has lost over the past few years.
"Ever since [the Board passed its resolution banning the use of race in admissions], the university has suffered the reputation, although not deserved, of being anti-diversity," he added.
California Regent Ward Connerly, who was an avid supporter of Proposition 209, has been speaking around the country against affirmative action policies in university admissions.
Bagley said people sometimes are under the false impression that Connerly's views are representative of the Board as a whole.
"He is not the ad hoc representative of the university," he said.
He added that he has not introduced the proposal yet and is waiting until he feels he has significant votes in favor of the proposal.
"The idea is to erase the past and repair the reputation, to tell the minority communities of the world that we are for diversity and they are welcome," Bagley said. Proposition 209 "still prevails but at the very least the university is erased from that past."
The University has undergone a similar discussion about the use of race in admissions recently, culminating in a Board of Visitors' resolution advocating current practices of using race as a factor in admissions.
Dean of Admissions John A. Blackburn said despite the Board's resolution, it will always be an issue.
"The [Board] has spoken very clearly," Blackburn said. But "none of us would be surprised to have other challenges, and we would be prepared to meet them."
He said many decisions made in California have a ripple effect around the country.
"In many ways California is a state that does things first and to reverse [the University of California's stance] against affirmative action would be a wonderful thing for this country," he added.
Office of African-American Affairs Dean M. Rick Turner said he supports Bagley's initiative.
"I applaud this member of the board for being courageous enough and really being sensible enough to say that if race is not considered in admissions, then" their universities will suffer from a tremendous drop in black student enrollment, Turner said.
He said he hopes the recent debates against affirmative action do not cause the University to lose appeal to some black applicants.
"Any time parents get any inklings that a university is in controversy regarding race, they become skeptical about sending their children" to that institution, he added.
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