UC admissions offices this week are scouring files, collecting dataand preparing explanations of how inquiries from prominent individuals about student admissions applications have been handled over the past five years. The information is being prepared for UC Provost Judson King, who has been directed by UC President Richard Atkinson to submit a report on UC admissions practices by May 20. Atkinson's directive responds to recent news reports that some regents, legislators and other prominent people may have influenced student admissions decisions. "I want to emphasize that the university routinely provides information about the status of student applications in response to inquiries as a public service and we will continue to do so," Atkinson wrote in a recent letter to the UC Board of Regents. "I also want to make clear that the university has no policy that affords preferences to students as a result of letters or other communications on their behalf by prominent individuals, nor do we endorse such practices....If [King's] report reveals problems that need to be addressed, we will do whatever is necessary to ensure the integrity of our admissions process." Two state legislators--Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Santa Monica, chair of the Senate's Select Committee on Higher Education, and Assemblywoman Marguerite Archie-Hudson, D-Los Angeles, member of the Assembly's Higher Education Committee--have called for special legislative hearings on the issue of preferential treatment for applicants sponsored by regents, elected officials or other prominent individuals. Regent Ralph Carmona has urged that a special regents meeting be called this month to discuss the matter. Student affairs vice chancellor Carol Wall and graduate studies dean M.R.C. Greenwood are coordinating the collection of materials for the Davis campus. In a letter to the board last week, Atkinson indicated he will report the review's findings to the regents along with "appropriate measures and recommendations informed by the facts determined from our examination."The Sacramento Bee has also filed a Public Records Act request of the Davis, Los Angeles, Berkeley and San Diego campuses and UC's state governmental relations office, asking for all records of the past three years that request "favorable consideration, guidance, or help" in admissions, housing or financial aid at the undergraduate, graduate and professional school levels and any statistical summaries or logs of such requests.