VCU’s affirmative action policies

Barbara Grutter has brought the University of Michigan’s admittance policy to the public eye. Despite her 3.81 grade-point average, she wasn’t admitted into the university’s law school.

Grutter thinks her application was denied because she is white.

University President Eugene P. Trani admitted he didn’t know much about the University of Michigan, but he did know that VCU’s admissions policy isn’t similar.

“We have no race-based admissions policy,” he said.

The University of Michigan uses a points system to determine which students to accept.

According to CNN, the 1978 Supreme Court case University of California Regents v. Bakke eliminated quotas but allowed race to be used in college admission policies.

Grutter is suing because she thinks the university’s policy goes against the Supreme Court’s verdict. As reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education in 1995, two years before her application to the university, nine of 12 black applicants gained admittance with LSAT scores six to 13 points lower than hers and with GPAs from 3.25 to 3.49.

The lawsuit has caused many to take a closer look at affirmative action. Manley Banks, associate political science professor at VCU, said some call affirmative action an unfair practice that adds to prejudice and creates bitterness.

He also noted that others who are against the policy claim it does not promote a system of merit because people who don’t have the required scores are admitted into universities.

Affirmative action, Banks said, should be looked at on a long-term basis.

“The goal is to promote increased diversity (on college campuses),” he said.

The policy has long been unfairly dubbed as a quota system, Banks said.

A legacy program exists on many college campuses, he pointed out. This practice increases the likelihood that children of alumni will be admitted to a university. A school’s justification for this, Banks said, is that it will bring in more alumni donations.

It has been reported that President George W. Bush, was admitted into a private school based solely on who his father was,” Banks said.

“I doubt he loses one ounce of sleep over that,” Banks said.

Delores Taylor, director of the office of undergraduate admissions, agreed with Trani.

“We are not given a set number of students (to admit),” she said.

Trani said VCU sets floors in SAT scores and GPA and anyone above those floors can gain admittance to the school. Like many schools, the floors are sliding, which means a lower GPA requires higher SAT scores for admittance.

“I am very proud that 30 percent of our students are minorities,” he said, adding that the largest minority group at VCU is African-Americans.

Taylor said the admissions office works hard to bring in a diverse student body. The school’s population, she said, is fairly representative of Richmond’s population.

Schools around the nation are drawing on different tactics to recruit minorities. The University of Texas at Austin, Trani said, guarantees admission to those who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class. Students in many high schools in Texas are predominantly minorities, so this practice ensures them a spot in the Texas school.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the University of Michigan admissions case in late March and early April. The case, Trani said, will show administrators what is legal and what is illegal in regard to affirmative action.