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Panelists debate admissions policy
Problems could arise over academic requirements
By Dan Polley
It is not a race-based policy. We are not admitting unqualified candidates.
Panelists at the 4th Street Forum debated whether factors other than academics should be used in part to help determine admission to the University of Wisconsin-System.
It is not a race-based policy, UW Board of Regents member Danae Davis said. We are not admitting unqualified individuals.
She said the policy keeps academic achievements as the No. 1 factor in admissions, while standardized test scores are the second factor. The third, she said, are other experiences which include race, ethnicity, gender, age and geographic location.
But State Senator Glenn Grothman said the policy is based on race.
It is just a race-based admissions policy, which is just a dangerous thing, he said.
The discussion, UW Admissions: Does Achievement Still Count, included panelists Davis, Grothman, and Michael Hahn, a University of Wisconsin student. Thomas Shields, UW-Oshkosh student and UW Board of Regents member, was unable to attend the panel discussion, which was held at Milwaukee Turner Hall.
The policy, which was approved by the board at its Feb. 8 and 9 meeting, puts more emphasis on non-academic factors than the previous edition of the admissions policy and achieves consistency for the entire system, Davis said.
It codifies practices that have gone on some of our campuses for a while, Davis said.
Grothman said the policy puts too much emphasis on peoples ancestries and that since applicants grew up in America, they faced similar societal situations, which would not provide for diversity among applicants.
You view yourself as someone whose ancestors came from Africa, or someone whose ancestors came from Latin America or someone whose ancestors came from Vietnam, he said.
While Davis and Grothman debated the merits of the new holistic admissions policy, Hahn said improving K-12 education would lead to more diversity.
I think its an issue of we have to fundamentally improve inner-city schools, its an issue of we have to fundamentally improve schools in general, Hahn said.
By doing so, the students who attend schools would already be a diverse pool of applicants for the UW schools, so they would not need to implement a policy that would put focus on other factors such as race, age and ethnicity.
Davis and Grothman also debated the merits of implementing such a policy to produce students who can be successful in the growing global economy.
Davis said business leaders from around the state have asked the regents to provide for students who have total understanding of diverse cultures and diverse backgrounds.
But Grothman said he has asked regents for examples of business leaders who have asked for such students and none were provided.
Hahn said he hopes the UW System will one day implement a color-blind admissions policy.
If emphasis is off education � in areas such as test scores, class ranks, things like that � � people are getting into universities who dont have basic skills, background to excel in college, he said.
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