UCLA 'greater' because of affirmative action. (University of California, Los Angeles)

In the past year, no issue has so touched the University of California as affirmative action and the controversy it has generated.

I have seen the affirmative action initiatives undertaken at UCLA in the past 20 years succeed in yielding the most diverse population of any research university in the United States. Simultaneously, UCLA has developed into one of our nation's finest institutions of higher learning. This was no coincidence: Diversity and educational excellence go hand in hand.

But affirmative action has come under fire nationwide. In California, the Board of Regents, which governs the nine universities in the University of California system, voted last year to halt the consideration of race, gender and ethnicity in admissions …