Affirmative Action

President Trump's crackdown on DEI means campuses like UC Davis have stopped making faculty applicants submit statements describing their diversity efforts.

Historically, Black carpenters faced discrimination by predominantly white unions. Now in California the unions are mostly Latino, but Blacks face similar obstacles.

This story was updated Oct. 1, 2024. California’s private nonprofit colleges will no longer be able to grant students an admissions advantage if their parents donated to or went to the same college after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law this morning banning the practice.  The state joins a rarefied group of four others that […]

After the Supreme Court ended affirmative action in college admissions, some students are rethinking their school selections. Some colleges are also boosting their student outreach as they seek diversity.

Scheduling note: WhatMatters will be celebrating the Fourth of July weekend and will return to your inboxes on Wednesday, July 5. This morning, Assemblymember Robert Rivas was sworn in as speaker. He takes the place of Lakewood Democrat Anthony Rendon — who has been on a farewell media tour of sorts — and assumes one […]

The first-in-the-nation state-appointed task force report contains hundreds of recommendations for reparation, including a proposal that the state apologize and make financial amends for slavery and decades of racist policies.

Most of what Californians experience with homelessness occurs along public spaces and city streets. With more than 170,000 unhoused people in the state, residents often see the crisis reflected in encampment tents along a roadside or panhandling on street corners. But one aspect of homelessness has surprisingly presented itself in Ojai, a small mountain valley […]

The end-of-week deadline to pass bills in their house of origin is only one day away, so legislators have been busy advancing a litany of measures. On Wednesday alone, the Assembly passed 242 measures and the Senate passed 59, after approving 213 combined on Tuesday, according to tallies kept by longtime lobbyist Chris Micheli. While […]

A new state law aims to ensure workers with disabilities earn at least minimum wage. But some worry that the state doesn’t have enough resources to help these workers compete for jobs.

A UC Berkeley inequality study finds that, although efforts to reduce inequality are popular, many of the rich or people in “advantaged groups” resist equity policies, believing they’ll be harmed.