Dr. Sue V. Rosser, dean of the Ivan Allen Liberal Arts College at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where male applicants outnumbered women 6,507 to 2,713 last year, says men are generally “more readily attracted to most science and engineering courses of study.”
Meanwhile, gender preferences of various kinds are coming under the
legal microscope. Diane Schachterle, spokeswoman for the American Civil Rights Institute, says her organization is as concerned about gender preferences as it is about minority preferences in college admissions.
“If women are now outnumbering men in college applications and admissions, this may be a result of bad policies favoring women in recent years, and we are reminded, be careful what you wish for,” Schachterle says.
Legal challenges to gender-based admissions are already moving their way through the courts. For example, the New York Civil Rights Coalition recently filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights challenging the legality of Black male retention programs in the City University of New York system. As the demographics continue to shift in colleges and universities, more lawsuits are almost certain to follow.
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
