Students split by race on some admissions factors

Student opinions vary on race and other admissions factors depending on students' membership in groups including race, political ideology, gender and the Greek system according to initial results of The Michigan Daily Student Survey.

Nearly 51 percent of respondents - in a sample representing 87 percent of the student population - opposed the use of race as a factor in the admissions process according to the survey, conducted by the Daily in conjunction with the Department of Communications Studies and the Institute for Social Research.

Survey results show that about 62 percent of non-white students - respondents who identified themselves as Asian, black or Latino/a students - said they support the University's use of race in the undergraduate admissions process. But only 35 percen t of respondents who identified themselves as white said they advocate awarding points in the admissions process to applicants who are members of underrepresented racial or ethnic groups.

Results of the survey are based on 873 interviews conducted with a stratified probability sample of all currently enrolled University students using a World Wide Web-based questionnaire. The sample was drawn by the Registrar's Office and the results have been weighted to account for demography. Interviews were collected between March 30 and April 13.

For the entire sample, the margin of error due to sampling is 4 percentage points, and it is larger for subsamples.

The University uses a Selection Index Worksheet when evaluating most undergraduate applicants.

Academics - including grade point average, standardized test scores, high school curriculum and quality of an applicant's high school - can account for up to 98 of a possible 150 points of the worksheet.

Other factors considered in the admissions process are state residency, whether applicants have legacy relations, a required application essay, personal achievement, leadership and miscellaneous factors.

Miscellaneous factors - of which only one may be applied to each applicant - can include factors such as socio-economic disadvantage, membership in an underrepresented minority or ethnic group, scholarship athlete status, underrepresented gender in specific programs or provost's discretion.

Music senior Gabriel Regentin, who was not a survey respondent, said he hoped the survey results would have reflected more support for affirmative action at the University.

"My guess is that (the white students) weren't as knowledgeable on the subject as the non-white people because it is more important to them. It affects their lives daily so they are more educated on the subject," said Regentin, a Michigan Student Assembly representative and Defend Affirmative Action Party member.

In the sample representing 87 present of the student population, including both undergraduate and graduate students, about 60 percent of respondents favored granting points for applicants with a socio-economic disadvantage. The percentage of non-white respondents supporting this action - 67 percent - is about 10 percentage points higher than white respondents, of whom only 57 percent approved of the action.

"There is a large section of the disapproving people of affirmative action who say it can be replaced by socio-economic disadvantage," Regentin said.

Although it is not a legitimate substitution, Regentin added, the effort is not without good intention, but it is still dodging the question of how to address discrimination.

"You take the color out of it," Regentin said, explaining that while a number of economically disadvantaged applicants may be members of minority groups, the substitution would not combat discrimination.

About 90 percent of the students surveyed approved of the use of SAT/ACT scores in the admissions process. A demographic breakdown shows that 94 percent of self-identified white respondents favor the use of test scores and nearly 83 percent of self-identified non-white respondents agreed with the use SAT/ACT scores.

Regentin said he believes standardized tests are poor measures of one's intellectual abilities.

"Not that it should be discontinued, we need many factors to evaluate applicants," Regentin said. "It should only be one of many criteria."

Respondents who identified themselves with either liberal or conservative affiliations also showed strong splits in opinion on various admissions factors.

Nearly 61 percent of respondents who said they are liberal also supported using race in admissions, but only 16 percent of conservative respondents said they supported its use.

Liberal respondents also were more likely to approve awarding points for socio-economic disadvantage with nearly 68 percent approval, compared to the conservative respondents 43 percent approval.

Although neither group had a majority favoring the use of legacy - points awarded to applicants if family members have attended or graduated from the University - liberals were less likely to support points for its use with only 24 percent approval, while 40 percent of conservatives approved the factor.

College Democrats President Kelley Boland, an LSA junior, said these percentages follow with the liberal ideal to give advantages to people who have been denied privileges in the past.

"It could just be a lot of times legacy gets tied to successful parents who went" to the University, Boland said. "Having a parent who went here isn't going to predict a student's success here."

Male and female respondents to the survey also varied in their disapproval of the use of race as a factor in admissions with nearly 46 percent of women opposing race as a factor and 56 percent of men opposing its use.

Boland said this is most likely because affirmative action was designed to benefit women and minorities by attempting to eliminate race and sex discrimination.

"Females are more sympathetic to minorities," Boland said.

Survey respondents also highly approved the use of leadership as a factor in the admissions process.

Regentin said questioning the University's award of leadership points is like questioning the University's desire to attract intelligent applicants.

Across all subgroups, students strongly approved of the University granting points for leadership achievements with 96 percent of self-identified white respondents and 92 percent of non-white identified respondents approving the use of the leadership.

"That was a no-brain kind of answer," Regentin said.

Another distinct group of University students, those involved in the Greek community, showed distinctly different opinions from those not involved in the Greek community, on the issue of giving points to applicants for athletic ability and race.

Fifty-six percent of self-identified members of the Greek system approved awarding athletes points for admission, while only 35 percent of respondents who said they are not members of the Greek community said they approve of the athlete's points.

On the question regarding awarding points for race, 33 percent of Greeks said they approved and 43.8 percent of non-Greeks approved.

Kinesiology senior Brad Holcman, former president of the Interfraternity Council, said he thinks members of the Greek community were not weighing the two questions against each other as an either/or situation.

"Greeks understand the importance of extracurricular activities," Holcman said, explaining that many Greeks participated in leadership and extracurricular activities before coming to the University, therefore giving them a greater respect solely for athletic achievement.

In terms of diversity, Holcman said the Greek system is diverse, but not representative of the University population as a whole, adding that many minorities have other opportunities for a fraternity environment such as the Black Greek System and houses for minority students.

Holcman said the lack of support from the Greek community for giving points for race may be because of the weight of the points on a person's application and not the existence of them altogether.

"A lot of people feel the weight is too much," Holcman said. "That does not downplay that race and ethnicity should be a factor."

04-19-99