Assembly Concurrent Resolution
No. 36
CHAPTER 79
Relative to higher education.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
August 27, 1991.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 36, Areias.
Higher education: expansion.
This measure would state that the Legislature commits to planning for expansion of its public higher education system, as specified, and would request that the Regents of the University of California, the Trustees of the California State University, and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges proceed with preparing for anticipated enrollment demand within the admission eligibility pools, as prescribed. This measure would also make various findings and declarations, and would state that the Legislature recognizes that planning for a new University of California campus in the San Joaquin Valley is appropriate and urges the regents to continue with this planning notwithstanding short-term resource constraints.
Digest Key
WHEREAS, Current projections indicate that California must prepare to accommodate more than 700,000 additional students in its public higher education system within the next 14 years, which may require the construction of several new campuses of the University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges; and
WHEREAS, California’s future economic, social, and cultural development depends upon popular access to an educational system which prepares all of the state’s inhabitants for responsible citizenship and meaningful careers in a multicultural democracy; and
WHEREAS, Long-term planning for California’s future higher education needs must continue despite short-term resource shortfalls; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature commits to planning for expansion of its public higher education system in accordance with the educational policy goals proposed in the April 1989 report “California Faces ... California’s Future: Education for Citizenship in a Multicultural Democracy” issued by the Joint Committee for Review of the Master Plan for Higher Education, particularly those elements concerning quality undergraduate education, student and faculty diversity, improved transfer and retention programs, and effective accountability mechanisms; and, be it further
Resolved, That the Regents of the University of California, the Trustees of the California State University, and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges are requested to proceed with preparing for anticipated enrollment demand within the admission eligibility pools prescribed by the Master Plan for Higher Education, including planning for additional campuses approved by the California Postsecondary Education Commission and the Legislature pursuant to Sections 66903 and 66904 of the Education Code; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)
The San Joaquin Valley sends fewer than 5 percent of its high school graduates to the University of California, a far smaller proportion than the statewide average of almost 8 percent.
(2)
Access to postsecondary education is determined, in significant measure, by proximity to college campuses.
(3)
The San Joaquin Valley, the most populated region of the state without a University of California campus, has one of the lowest rates of college participation of all regions in California.
(4)
The southern San Joaquin Valley is home to a large population of Chicano and Latino Californians, a group which has been historically underrepresented among the University of California student body.
(5)
Siting of a new University of California campus in the San Joaquin Valley would begin to address California’s dual needs for an expanded statewide system of higher education and educational equity among the state’s many regional communities; and, be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature recognizes that planning for a new University of California campus in the San Joaquin Valley is appropriate and urges the Regents of the University of California to continue with this planning notwithstanding short-term resource constraints.