UT minority admissions increase

Following a dramatic drop in the number of minority students at the University of Texas at Austin, new admission policies have spurred a slight increase in diversity at the school this year.

After the state of Texas was forced to abandon the use of race in its admission's practices following the Hopwood v. The University of Texas decision in 1996, the University of Texas System campuses experienced a large drop in minority applicants.

But this year's statistics at the University of Texas at Austin look a little more optimistic, said Marsha Moss, associate vice president and director of University of Texas's Office of Institutional Studies.

Moss said "overall, the entering class is more diverse than last year's."

UT at Austin's class of 2002 is 10 percent smaller than last year's incoming class, Moss said, adding that the decrease is the result of a conscious effort to downsize the class.

Associate Director of the University of Texas Office of Admissions Augustine Garza said the university noticed a decrease in the minority makeup of its '97 incoming class.

But Garza said 65.4 percent of the members in the enrolled class of 2002 are white, compared to 67.1 percent of the incoming class in fall '97.

The percentage of blacks has increased from the fall of '97 - from 2.5 percent to 2.8 percent in the fall '98.

Asians make up 17.1 percent of the enrolled class, while 12.1 percent enrolled last year were of Asian descent.

Garza attributed the increase in minority enrollment to the school's "top 10 percent admissions law," which has allowed the university to focus its recruitment activities and attract a diverse and qualified incoming class.

The "top 10 percent law" grants automatic admission to all Texans who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class.

Garza said this year the university practiced a more aggressive outreach to all potential students, regardless of race, to attract minority students.

"We (have) to treat everybody the same," Garza said. "We were allowed to target underrepresented communities for recruitment purposes."

Garza said he believes that in the next couple of years, UT will continue to increase minority enrollment since students will know the expected criteria and will work to reach the school's standards.

"I think we are going to continue to outreach, visiting schools and continue campus visiting program," Garza said, adding that he would add more people to the recruitment program.

"There are 1,600 high schools; we will get our share of our top 10 percent minority students, which is going to level the playing field with all of the states."

Garza said universities watching to see if a diverse class can be attained without affirmative action should wait a couple of years before eliminating the use of race in its admissions policies.

"The 10 percent legislation helped tremendously, and our own state policies in keeping students enrolled and keeping diversity going," Garza said. "I don't think schools should make quick decisions. They should wait a year or two to see if we jump back to the pre-Hopwood days."

Moss said UT is competing with other colleges that can offer students scholarships based on race.

"We don't have the ability to offer scholarships using race as a criteria," Moss said. "If you can't offer scholarship money, then that hurts enrollment."

But Moss said the Hopwood legislation allows for "directing recruiting efforts."

"We can target and recruit those high schools and areas where there may be many minorities," Moss said.

Associate Provost Lestor Monts declined to comment.

10-02-98