More than 600 University of California faculty members, led by UC Berkeley mathematicians, have issued an open letter demanding SAT or ACT requirements for STEM applicants beginning fall 2027 after documenting preparation gaps that force reteaching of middle-school math. The letter reports that at least 20% of Berkeley first-semester calculus students from fall 2021 to fall 2023 showed deficits on diagnostic exams, with basic fluency described as structurally required for success in quantitative fields. UC's 2020 suspension of testing, enacted against its own Standardized Testing Task Force findings that scores outperform high school grades as predictors and can increase disadvantaged admissions, has left faculty without reliable readiness signals. Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, Penn, Stanford and Caltech restored testing requirements in 2024-2025 after similar observations; UC remains test-optional while allowing post-admission score submission only for placement. Primary data from the UC task force report and the faculty letter together show test-free policies coincided with measurable erosion traceable to pandemic disruptions, independent of later AI tutoring patterns.