The University of California can no longer consider ACT or SAT scores in admissions or scholarship decisions under the terms of a legal settlement announced May 14.

The settlement resolves a lawsuit brought by students, community organizations and the Compton Unified School District in December 2019, which alleged that the University’s use of the SAT and ACT in admissions decisions created a discriminatory and unnecessary barrier to college access for students of color and students with disabilities.

Many are calling the settlement historic as it will broaden access to higher education for students, especially Black and Latino students.

“It is our hope that this agreement helps UC officials to align with the system’s vision to recruit and educate California’s best and brightest from all backgrounds,” said Mo Hyman, executive director of College Access Plan, in a news release. “We also hope it causes public institutions everywhere to rethink their relationship with The College Board and reliance on its products, which perpetuate privilege and exacerbate racism in institutions of higher learning.”

Last year, the University of California Board of Regents had waived the standardized test requirement for all California freshman applicants until fall 2024 while the University worked to create a new test to assess college readiness.

In January, the University of California announced it had received a total of 249,855 applications for fall 2021 admissions, a 16.1 percent leap from the previous year.

Freshman applications surged from African American students, with an increase of 1,505 applications or 21.8 percent, as well as Chicano/Latino students, with a jump of 5,250 or 12.2 percent, which experts have attributed in part to the removal of the ACT/SAT requirement for fall 2021 admissions.

“It’s very exciting to see this settlement as for decades, Black & Brown students who can’t afford pricey SAT and ACT test prep and tutors have been at a disadvantage when applying to University of California schools and scholarships,” said Aurea Montes-Rodriguez, the Executive Vice President of Community Coalition, in a news release.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and Sen. Henry Stern, D-Los Angeles, have joined legislative leaders and partnering organizations to urge support for new legislation to strengthen the implementation of education on genocide, including the Holocaust, and provide tools and resources to schools and teachers to confront complex issues of bias, bigotry, racism, and the rise in incidents of hate.

Senate Bill 693, the Never Again Education Act, sponsored by Thurmond and authored by Stern, which successfully advanced from the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this month, establishes the Governor’s Council on Genocide and Holocaust Education. It would assemble leading experts on teaching about crimes against humanity, genocide, and the Holocaust in particular to provide resources offering new teaching methods and enhanced resources for teachers and students to counter a recent rise in acts of hate, bigotry and anti-Semitism across our country and embrace the importance of diversity, human rights, and the roles and responsibilities of citizens in democratic societies to combat misinformation, indifference and discrimination.

This effort aligns with the “Education to End Hate” initiative that Thurmond launched in September 2020.

The CDE is prepared to work with any school district, along with partners such as the Anti-Defamation League and the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation, to respond to and provide the resources and support schools need when there are incidents of anti-Semitism and acts of hate. All questions regarding the Education to End Hate Initiative can be directed to edtoendhate@cde.ca.gov.

“Our students are victims of a broken society; every day we encounter more heartbreaking examples of anti-Semitism, bullying, and violence against Asian Americans, Islamophobia, LGBTQ discrimination, and racism and actions of hate against people of color. Education has the power to help us grow, understand, and find a pathway to healing,” Thurmond said, in a news release. “SB 693 will build the necessary infrastructure to provide the trainings to hold the courageous conversations. It is not enough for us to say ‘never forget’ genocide or the experience of the Holocaust, but what we need to realize is that there is an interconnectivity that we all experience and that, with the right information and tools, we can and we must address hate wherever and whenever it occurs.”