The Regents are at it again. Think  the SAT subject test are worthless? Apparently the University of California regents do too: They voted to drop them as a requirement for the freshman class of 2012.

University of California regents today gave preliminary approval to a change in freshman admission standards that would drop the requirement for SAT subject exams and make more students eligible for a review of their applications while guaranteeing admission to fewer of them. If approved by the full board Thursday, it will take effect for students seeking admission for fall 2012, with current high school freshmen the first to be affected.

Aside from dropping the SAT subject tests, the university will also redefine eligiliity

The plan is expected to reduce the guarantees by about 10,000 students a year, to about 35,475. It also would cut the percentage of students deemed eligible for the university statewide, based on a sliding scale of grades and test scores, from the top 12.5% to 9%. In addition, the plan would increase the number who qualify by class rank at their high schools, which is a separate path to UC; that figure would rise to the top 9% of their local graduating class, from 4% now. The change also creates a category of 30,000 additional students who will have their applications reviewed but will not be guaranteed a spot at UC. They will need a 3.0 grade point average but in general can have lower grades and test scores than the other groups.

What does this all mean? The Uc’s will look different, in what some call the whitening of the campus:

According to data prepared by the university and just starting to receive attention, 36 percent of those admitted to the university system in 2007-8 were Asian Americans. Applying the new admissions standards, that percentage would drop to 29-32 percent. In contrast, white applicants made up 34 percent of those admitted in 2007-8. Under the proposed reforms, they would have made up 41 to 44 percent of the entering class. The bottom line is that Asian Americans would shift from being the largest group gaining admission to the University of California to the second.

Projected Impact of Admissions Changes on Different Racial and Ethnic Groups

(Note: Numbers do not add to 100 because of “other” and students whose ethnicity is not known.) The summary of changes:

“The bottom line is that it will be more diverse and more fair,” said UC President Mark Yudof. The board approved these changes today: — SAT subject tests will no longer be necessary. — The pool of applicants who will be considered will widen, but the number guaranteed entry into one of the university’s nine undergraduate campuses will shrink. — The top 9 percent of high school graduates statewide will be ensured entry, compared with 12.5 percent previously, as well as those in the top 9 percent of their graduating class - up from 4 percent in the past. Taken together, the two groups will constitute 10.1 percent of California’s graduating class, based on projections by the university.