Although the University of Wisconsin’s new admissions policy that considers the race of the applicant has been widely panned, a spokesman for the system said the policy is more holistic than race-based.
David F. Giroux says the new policy was no more a race-based policy than it was a veterans-based or a football player-based policy.
The university system’s board of regents recently approved a policy that takes into account factors besides standardized test scores and GPA. Among the new considerations are “status as a non-traditional student; status as a veteran of the U.S. military; whether the applicant is socioeconomically disadvantaged; and whether the applicant is a member of an historically underrepresented racial or ethnic group.”
“The policy looks at the entire person, so it doesn’t make sense to ignore their ethnicity or background,” says Giroux. “We’re not a race-blind society. To say we’re color-blind is to ignore reality.”
He adds that claims of unqualified minority students being admitted over qualified Whites are false. Thousands of qualified students are rejected from UW-Madison, regardless of race, he says.
“But it is a bell curve of all kinds of students who get accepted,” says Giroux. “Where is the moral outrage of unqualified White students who are accepted?”
Regent president David Walsh released a statement encouraging regents and others to remember the importance of diverse student environments on the educational process.
“Diversity isn’t just race,” the statement said. “It’s geography. It’s handicapped. It’s the veterans. It’s the football player. They all bring something to this campus. It’s about having a better educational experience for our students.”
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Comments posted here may be reprinted in Diverse: Issues In Higher Education magazine, and may be edited for purposes of clarity and/or space.
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