Affirmative action is only one part of a comprehensive admission process.  I'm somewhat entertained by Cenk's deep concern about the poor white man struggling to survive and how he's left out in the process.  If we look at that UC System here in California, you will know that one of the important parts of the application is your personal statement/essay where the white man can describe his personal struggles and obstacles that he has been able to overcome.

But going back to the impact affirmative action has had on California with the passage of Prop. 209 that banned affirmative action in public schools, employment and contracting, you will see that minorities have been hit hard.  In looking at UC Berkeley's Student Body based on 2006 ACS estimates and Berkeley's 2008 admissions:

African Americans - 4% undergraduate, 3% graduate (represent 6.2% of California)
Latinos -12% undergraduate, 6% graduate (35.95% of California)
Asian Americans - 42% undergraduate, 17% graduate (12.3% of California)
Caucasians - 31% undergraduate, 42% graduate (59.8% of California)

So are you really comfortable with these numbers Cenk in a public university system that is suppose to be for the people or our State?  I'm actually very surprised that you seem to advocate a needs basis affirmative action policy versus a race basis policy, because in my mind the results wouldn't bet that different.  Maybe I'm wrong here (I'd have to look at the stats), but it seems like most people living in poverty California tend to be Black or Latino.  Either way, something needs to be done and I'd be willing to compromise with a "needs base" program and see where that takes us.  More importantly, if we're going to be living in a color-blind society, it's time start put money in the public education system especially in inner cities to make things a little balanced.  Oh wait - our State's a bust so scratch that idea.