Texas A&M will no longer use race when determining an applicant's eligibility for admission. This color-blind policy has, of course, resulted in lawsuits by those claiming that A&M is determined to become an "all-white institution":
On December 3, Texas A&M University President Robert Gates, who headed the CIA during the first Bush administration, announced that the University will consider in its admissions decisions whether an applicant has overcome socioeconomic disadvantage and other obstacles, but will not take into account an applicant's race.
In response, U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston) and State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) have threatened to file a lawsuit and request a federal civil rights investigation of Texas A&M. After a group of left-wing minority state legislators met with Gates on December 8 to implore him to reverse his decision, he nevertheless stood firm against using race. The legislators subsequently bashed Gates at a news conference in which they accused him of attempting to create an "all-white university"...
This is in direct contradiction to Gate's plan, but these representatives don't seem interested in the facts:
Gates' plan steps up recruiting efforts in predominantly minority areas, works to persuade admitted minority students to actually enroll, and provides $5,000-a-year scholarships to all first-generation college students whose families earn $40,000 a year or less. Additionally, several essay questions encourage applicants to discuss significant obstacles they have overcome, which could include poverty and racism.
As long as preferences for disadvantaged students of all colors are modest, they are defensible based on merit. An applicant from an impoverished background who attended a low-performing inner city high school and whose parents did not go to college, but nevertheless approach A&M's average standardized test score, may have enough untapped potential to justify his admission and handle the coursework.
Since blacks and Hispanics are unfortunately more likely than whites to be disadvantaged, they will surely benefit disproportionately from the new admissions policy....
Note the requirement of the essay question and the SAT score. What this plan means is that underqualified students will no longer be accepted based on race, and qualified applicants will be less likely to be overlooked because of familial poverty. It's appalling that elected representatives would threaten to sue over this; it's extra-appalling that these efforts to ensure that qualified kids of all races and backgrounds are admitted are somehow synonymous with creating an "all-white" environment.
Are the congresswoman and senator assuming that there will be no qualified minority applicants, and are they really saying that all the current minority enrollees at Texas A&M were admitted solely due to race? That's a racist belief if I ever heard one.
Update John of Discriminations points out with exquisite tact that he covered this story last week. And in greater detail. Don't miss Claire's comment on the "religion" of A&M.
Posted by kswygert at December 11, 2003 12:21 PM