Friday, July 27, 2007

Burnt Orange Not Black Enough

A University of Texas graduate filed a complaint Friday with the U.S. Department of Education about UT’s use of race in its admission decisions, reports in tuesday’s Austin-American Statesman.

Currently, UT offers admission to all state residents who graduate in the top 10% of their high school classes, as required by state law. Of 13,795 UT freshmen admitted for the upcoming school year, 63% were admitted under the top 10% provision.

The complainant is Anthony Williams, president of the Black Student Alliance at the University of Texas. He told the Austin-American Statesman that he didn’t think the top 10% plan did enough to "overcome the hurdle of achieving diversity among the student body." He also states that "the top 10% does not offer a guarantee that the target student body will be achieved; it only allows a chance for the goal to be approached."

In my opinion, the top 10% doesn't really have anything to do with your race. It's either you have your gpa up in high school or not. According to the report, African-American undergraduate enrollment at UT has increased from 3.5% of the student body in the fall of 1998 when the 10% rule first went into effect to 4.2% in fall of 2006. Hispanic undergraduate enrollment went from 13.9% to 17.1% during that period as well. Asian enrollment increased from 13.7% to 17%. Overall, I feel that the top 10% plan is doing a better job in attracting minorities to UT than race-based affirmative action.

In the article, it states that the U.S. Department of Education has 6 months to investigate the claim. DOE spokesman Jim Bradshaw told the newspaper that if the determination is made that a violation has occurred, it will work with the institution to help it comply with the law.

1 comment:

Kris S. Seago said...

Nice solid post. Nice controversial title. So, you think Top 10% is working and we should keep it? It appears you worked through all your html technical issues, good job.