Two universities that are accused in a new report of giving minority students an unfair edge in the admissions process defended their practices Tuesday as being legitimate strategies to expand access and enhance diversity on campus.
The report – titled ‘Racial and Ethnic Preferences in Undergraduate Admissions at Two Ohio Public Universities’ – was released this week by the Falls Church, Va.-based Center for Equal Opportunity, which opposes race-conscious affirmative action in higher education.
The report charges that Miami University admitted Blacks over Whites at a ratio of 8 to 1 and 10.2 to 1 using SAT and ACT, respectively, as well as other factors, such as grades, gender, residency and year of admission, and that Ohio State University admitted Blacks over Whites at a ratio of 3.3 to 1 and 7.9 to 1 using the SAT and ACT, respectively.
The report also claims that MU admitted Hispanics over Whites at a ratio of 2.2 to 1 using either the SAT or ACT, and that OSU admitted Hispanic over White students at a ratio of 4.3 to 1 and 6.5 to 1 using the SAT and ACT, respectively.
The schools were also found to give a “modest degree of preference” to Asian students.
With OSU and MU released statements Tuesday saying that they look at a variety of factors that transcend a student’s race and ethnicity when doling out seats on campus.
Dolan Evanovich, Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Planning at OSU, criticized the CEO study as a “very limited one that focused pretty much exclusively on standardized test scores, grade point averages and rank in class.”
He said after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark Grutter v. Bollinger case that that involved the University of Michigan that affirmative action could be used in college admissions but only on a limited basis, that OSU implemented a “holistic review” for all applications.
“We look deeper than just GPA or standardized tests scores,” Evanovich said, explaining that OSU looks at things such as the strength of the applicant’s school curriculum, the rigor of the courses, the strength of their school, personal essays, work experience, leadership activities, overcoming obstacles and showing progress.
