I spoke with someone who contributed to another report, separate from the academic senate report, that advised Napolitano in her SAT decision-making. What he said, paraphrasing:
“Jelani, what if the admissions objective is not to admit the students who will perform the best academically, but to admit the students who would benefit the most from a Berkeley degree, say as measured by increase in lifetime earnings.”
Of course, if you start producing graduates that are substantially weaker, high-paying employers will notice and cut back on hiring your graduates. Their counter is some idealized/wishful thinking that the university experience is so transformational that it can turn any student into a diamond coming out, even if they didn’t know how to add fractions coming in.
Link to the second report:
ucop.edu/institutional-resea…