Affirmed

Study supports 'U''s admissions policy

The controversial issue of racial and ethnic diversity has demanded attention at the University for decades. The adminsitration's use of affirmative action in admissions decisions played an integral role in creating one of the most diverse college campuses in the nation. The University community benefits from the effects of affirmative action - the interaction of numerous cultures and a variety of different backgrounds results in an extremely rich learning environment, both in and out of the classroom. It has and continues to be a long, hard fight for student activists and University officials like President Lee Bollinger to convince the nation that affirmative action is essential to maintaining diversity and academic strength in higher education.

A recent study conducted by former Harvard University President Derek Bok and former Princeton University President William Bowen shows that the University's administrators have been right all along in its support of affirmative action. A book profiling their study, "Shape of the River," is being released in the midst of the lawsuits against the University's College of Literature, Science and the Arts and the Law School. The lawsuits object to the administration's use of race and ethnic background as a factor, among many, in admissions decisions.

The authors, both affirmative action advocates, analyzed the academic records of 45,000 students of all races who entered 28 highly selective colleges and universities that employed affirmative action policies, noting their performance and achievements. They found the African American graduates from the schools obtained more professional degrees despite lower average test scores and grades. These graduates were nearly twice as likely as African American graduates from other schools to get advanced degrees and several times more likely to get degrees in law, business and medicine. They also became more active than the white students in social services, politics and in community services.

Anti-affirmative action activists argue that admitting minority students to prestigious colleges and universities under the auspices of affirmative action puts them at an academic and social disadvantage since the usual standards of admission are lowered. University admissions officers measure academic achievement by the Scholastic Aptitude Test and the American College Test, but studies have shown that such tests are biased against women and minorities - placing them at a disadvantage and casting a shadow insufficiency on them. If the University focused solely on test results and GPAs, they would miss many of the more qualitative measures of a potential students' worth. The University takes race into account as a contributing factor when making admissions decisions - enhancing the entire campus's educational experience.

Further, to deny many under-qualified students the opportunity to attend the University would deny them the chance to prove themselves in the face of a significant challenge. As the study suggests, when presented with this opportunity, many of affirmative actions beneficiaries proved to excel.

The study's results not only show that the University is correct in its use of affirmative action, but also shows that high test scores do not imply superior intelligence. They simply indicate good test-taking skills. As the study suggests, it is the hands-on application of classroom learning that matters in the end. Quantitative student-asessment methods may aid in admission to higher education institutions, but they do not necessarily help with the applications of knowledge and skills needed for a successful career and contribution to society.

09-17-98