On Feb. 18, President William A. Covino sent out a university-wide email explaining the schools decision to declare impaction beginning fall 2020.
After three public hearings and feedback from students and the community, Covino and members of the administration have decided to move forward with impaction, with two alterations.
“Our unfunded enrollment challenge remains and needs to be addressed; We also understood the need for collaboration and transparency in enrollment. The changes in the proposal reflect that,” said Provost Lynn Mahoney.
The university will continue to enroll a limited number of non-eligible students by working with the Academic Senate through “alternative” paths to admission. The Education Opportunity Program (EOP) will also remain unchanged in its efforts to ensure that all students have equal opportunities in spite of their GPA.
In addition, Cal State LA will not propose any changes to their current community college location preference. This means that transfer students from Pierce College, LA Valley, LA Mission and LA Harbor will remain in local preference and receive guaranteed admission—after they meet the required major specific criteria.
Cal State LA students and the local community have expressed their opposition towards impaction since the news became public last month. Together they held on-campus rallies and formed a movement with over 1,000 members entitled #notoimpaction.
Many students and members of the community are not satisfied with President Covino’s revised admissions proposal.
“We were not asking for a review of their proposal, we demanded that they stop the proposal,” said lead organizer Danielle Mayen. “I’m glad they thought to include those two but they completely missed the point.”
Mayen explained that the recent email from President Covino was only sent to Cal State LA students, not members of the community, organizations, or community colleges that were involved in each hearing, meeting and protest that the administration and campus community held.
“They never once included our demand for the one year moratorium and they held meetings without us,” she added.
The impaction plan will be submitted to the California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s Office on March 15 and changes will be made immediately, however the university will not implement the new admission criteria until fall 2020.
“This plan was, and still is unfair to minority students,” said student activist Diana Orozco. “We as a community need to continue to stop this impaction. It will change the dynamic of who Cal State LA represents.”
There are no plans in place to continue the fight to end impaction, but students and faculty members said that they will not give up until the administration conforms to their one-year moratorium.
More information on the Impaction Plan can be found on the university’s website.
