THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 6, 1995 TAG: 9506030294
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: Affirmative Action
Part three: Education
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 407 lines
The issue is crystal clear for Richard Stine and Cheron Bolton. It's a matter of simple justice.
``I was always raised to believe that everyone is equal; you do your best, and that's what you're rewarded for,'' says Stine, a senior at Tallwood High School, headed for Virginia Commonwealth University on a music scholarship. ``If there's a system that lowers standards for certain groups of people, I don't think it's right.''
Bolton, a Richmond native who just finished her first year at the University of Virginia, sees it in a different light. ``Blacks were kept down as far as getting into school,'' says Bolton, who is getting a full-tuition scholarship restricted to blacks. ``It's kind of a way of letting them catch up, and I don't think we're still caught up.''
But for Steve Woofter, a graduate student at Old Dominion University, ``it's not a clear-cut issue.'' As a teenager in Lawrenceville, he got rejected by Virginia Tech, while a black friend with the same grades got in.
``Sometimes I'm very resentful toward the system,'' he says. ``I see so many people getting hurt by it. But then I see the good-ol'-boy network in full effect and I say, `That's why we should have it.' ''
Among students, this is the affirmative action debate that really counts: Should colleges and universities offer preferences to ethnic groups in admissions and scholarships?
Their words aren't as strident as the verbal slings and arrows thrown in Congress or on the talk shows. But some teenagers, especially seniors who recently received college acceptance - and rejection - letters, speak passionately, sometimes glowingly, sometimes bitterly, about their first encounters with affirmative action.
Adults, too, are increasingly focusing on college policies in the national dialogue. A referendum next year in California would end racial preferences throughout state government, including at public colleges such as UCLA. If voters approve the plan, observers say, it might trigger a domino effect across the country.
College officials in Virginia say they don't plan to change admissions practices. But most are re-examining their minority scholarships in light of a U.S. Supreme Court action last month upholding a ban on black-only scholarships at the University of Maryland.
Like their students, Virginia schools don't have a uniform stance on affirmative action, though nearly all support the philosophy behind it.
When it comes to admissions, elite colleges such as the University of Virginia give minorities a ``little edge,'' in the words of admissions dean John A. Blackburn. Less competitive schools, such as ODU and Virginia Wesleyan College, say they offer absolutely no preferences to minorities.
``For us,'' says Wesleyan Vice President Martha Rogers, ``it's not an admissions issue; it's a recruitment issue.''
Eastern Virginia Medical School uses a 40-point numerical system, in which minorities get one extra point. Like most schools, EVMS doesn't offer preferential treatment to women.
Other schools have more subjective processes, free of formulas, in which an applicant's race might be enough to counterbalance a low test score. Some preferences offered at state's elite schools
The Supreme Court's hallmark Bakke decision in 1978 set the parameters for affirmative action in college admissions. The court ruled in the California case that schools may use racial preferences, but not strict quotas.
Maybe even more important for Virginia schools was the Adams case in 1973, in which the U.S. Court of Appeals found that 10 Southern states, including Virginia, still operated segregated college systems. Virginia prohibited blacks from attending colleges until the middle of this century, and most schools remained virtually all-white until at least the 1960s. Under the ruling, the federal government required each state to push harder to increase black enrollment.
``In other states not covered by Adams,'' says David R. Bousquet, Virginia Tech's admissions director, ``there's not that legal incentive for them to pay attention to this issue.''
That doesn't mean elite colleges are casting off standards simply to get more minorities on campus, admissions officials say.
``There is a perception that black students are getting incredible breaks, and we're turning down lots of well-qualified white students, and it's not true,'' says U.Va.'s Blackburn.
U.Va. and the College of William and Mary, considered the state's most exclusive schools, have similar statistics: Black freshmen have an average SAT score about 200 points lower than whites and an average ``class rank percentile'' about 9 percentage points lower.
In William and Mary's case, that means the typical white student would have graduated sixth in a high school class of 100 and the typical black 15th. ``Being sixth out of 100 or 15th out of 100 - they are pretty good students, both of them,'' says W&M's admissions director, Virginia A. Carey.
She also says the difference in SAT scores - a difference that mirrors the gap between the races in national averages - isn't so important. At best, the scores indicate a student's success only in his or her first year of college. ``High school record is a much better predictor of academic record'' in college, she says.
U.Va. does offer an unusual break to out-of-state blacks: It switches their applications to the Virginia pile, giving them a much better shot. The university sets aside about one-third of its spots for out-of-staters, but two-thirds of its applicants are non-Virginians. So the switch allows out-of-state blacks to compete with fewer applicants for many more openings.
But for some schools, admissions preferences are not the answer. At Old Dominion, officials say the key is to recruit minorities and provide a warm atmosphere. But once they apply, they are treated no differently from whites, Vice President Dana D. Burnett says. ``On our campus, minority students don't need crutches. They stand on their own two feet.'' Supreme Court action puts some scholarships in doubt
The other key tool in affirmative action in higher education is scholarships limited to minorities. But the Supreme Court's action last month reaffirming the ban on the University of Maryland's minority-only scholarships has put in question the future of thousands of other scholarships, including those in Virginia.
Virginia has two main programs that together offer about $1.5 million a year from state funds to 1,250 students, or an average of $1,200. Among the recipients are more than 110 white students at black colleges.
Many schools also have their own scholarships, such as U.Va.'s four-year University Achievement awards, which go to 200 Virginians a year. Bolton, the freshman from Richmond, is getting such an award.
The state is studying the scholarships to see whether they would fall under the court's stipulations. Officials point to some key differences: The statewide program is open to all minorities; Maryland's was just for blacks. And U.Va.'s program, unlike Maryland's, is privately funded.
Although two-thirds of the country's universities use race-based scholarships, according to a study by the U.S. General Accounting Office last year, they account for only 5 percent of all scholarships. ``I think the scope has been exaggerated,'' says Gordon K. Davies, director of the State Council of Higher Education. ``It says to me that most financial aid is need-based and totally race-blind.''
The numbers don't appease critics of the scholarships. ``It's discrimination,'' says Paul Kamenar, executive legal director of the Washington Legal Foundation, which challenged the Maryland program. ``Should we say segregated schools are OK if only 5 percent are segregated? We're concerned about the principle.''
Bolton, who plans to major in commerce, thinks the scholarships provide ``one of the few incentives that black students have for going to predominantly white institutions, as opposed to going to historically black colleges. It sends a message that they're welcome.''
But Stine, the Tallwood senior, sees them as another example of injustice: ``It's along the same line. I feel, why should one race get funds over another? Why should skin color determine whether I get more money or he gets into college and I don't?''
Bolton and Stine represent the best-known poles in the affirmative action debate - the black supporter, the white critic. But many students don't fall into these neat categories.
Take Linda Brown. A black senior at Virginia Wesleyan College who calls herself a ``centrist,'' she can't shake her doubts about affirmative action. ``To me, it seems unfair,'' she says. ``Standards should be set for everyone. When you start changing them for minorities, it's as if you're saying they're inferior or they need things other students don't need.''
Sarah Butler, a white Virginia Beach student who just graduated from U.Va., felt the same way - until she took Sociology 101 last semester, which turned her into a proponent: ``There's a whole culture of poverty that it's almost impossible to escape from. . . . Why would you deny them one advantage when they've had no advantages from the roots up?''
And there are plenty of shades in between.
``It would seem to be necessary up to a point,'' says Mark McLaughlin, a white William and Mary junior from Baltimore. ``We need to bring the two groups to an equal line. My only problem is that it continues to divide people.''
For Asian-American students, who often aren't eligible for minority preferences in colleges, the subject can be especially grating. ``It shouldn't be just a black-and-white issue,'' says Nina Bautista, a Tallwood graduate who attends Scripps College in California. ``We're a minority as well. It's only fair that we be included, too.''
Dana Takagi, associate professor of sociology at the University of California at Santa Cruz, says most U.S. schools exclude Asian-Americans from affirmative action, assuming their families have high income and education levels. But that stereotype, she says, doesn't hold true for all Asian groups.
Takagi, the author of ``The Retreat From Race: Asian-American Admissions and Racial Politics,'' knows that many Asian-American families dislike affirmative action. If the initiative passes in California, it could push Asians to the majority at the top colleges, some say. Still, Takagi hopes the initiative is rejected.
``We should want things because they carry moral weight or they're how we believe society should function. We want what's in our personal interest, but as a society, we should stand for much more than that.'' Educators hope to build on "very mixed picture"
Has affirmative action succeeded in colleges? The record is mixed in terms of getting blacks to college and ensuring that they graduate.
Nationally, the number of black college students has increased 29 percent in the past decade, but blacks still account for less than 10 percent of the student body, according to a report this year by the American Council on Education. ``Twenty-year trends since 1973 show that whites continue to be much more likely than African Americans or Hispanics to participate in higher education,'' the report says.
``It's a very mixed picture,'' says David Merkowitz, a spokesman for the council. ``Nonetheless, it represents some progress.''
In Virginia, the numbers also are open to debate. A study last month by the Southern Education Foundation found that the percentage of black students at predominantly white colleges in Virginia had nearly doubled since 1980 to 10 percent - but 19 percent of the state's population is black.
The foundation lashed out at most Southern states for failing to achieve ``an acceptable level of success'' in desegregation. Yet many college officials, looking back at their recent past, say they're moving in the right direction.
Nearly 20 years ago, less than 2 percent of Virginia Tech's undergrads were black. Now, 5 percent are. At William and Mary, during roughly the same span, the proportion of black students rose from 3 percent to 7 percent.
``Have we made as much progress as we would have liked? No,'' says Timothy J. Sullivan, president of William and Mary. ``Have we made considerable progress? Yes. You can't look at us and conclude that we haven't made important strides.''
Gillian T. Cell, the college's provost, says, ``One of the best proofs of the fact it has worked is to look at graduation rates. . . . They come here, they stay, and, by and large, they succeed.''
The six-year graduation rate for blacks at W&M is 81 percent, according to the NCAA, which tracks the numbers for Division I schools nationwide. The rate for whites is 11 points higher - 92 percent. U.Va.'s numbers are similar - 82 percent for blacks, 93 percent for whites.
``We'd like to see it the same for all students,'' says U.Va.'s Blackburn, ``but we're proud that the graduation rate for African Americans is that high.''
Yet Stephan Thernstrom, Winthrop professor of history at Harvard University, sees an argument against affirmative action in the racial gap in graduation rates. The gap is only 3 percent at Harvard, but much larger at other institutions - 22 percentage points at the University of Michigan, 25 at Virginia Tech, 31 at University of California at Berkeley.
``A significant reason for the sharp racial disparities in graduation rates may well be excessive affirmative action, which is mismatching students with institutions,'' Thernstrom says. ``I don't think it's good for anyone.''
Blacks might benefit, he argues, if top schools stopped racial preferences. ``Now you're putting minority students into MIT who would do just fine at Purdue.''
Others say the racial gap in graduation rates doesn't always reflect students' abilities. Bousquet, from Tech, says finances are a key factor. Rising tuition rates make it even harder for blacks with low family incomes to complete their educations.
Takagi, the California professor, says minority students also face more pressures on campus. ``There's a lot of racial tension in higher education,'' she says, ``and one of the reasons is because there's so much furor about affirmative action.''
Maybe, she says, the finger should be pointed not at the students, but at the universities for not trying harder to boost the graduation rates. Pointing to Duke University's 94 percent graduation rate for all athletes, Takagi says: ``It shows that tutoring can make a really big difference. Why would we be more willing to help a white basketball player than to help a working-class or Asian-American student?'' Critics offer some ideas to help poor students
Affirmative action has been attacked for discriminating against whites, but some analysts fault it for failing to help the group intended to be its chief beneficiary: low-income blacks.
``What has happened in black America in the era of affirmative action is this: middle-class black people are better off and lower-class black people are worse off,'' writes Stephen L. Carter, a Yale Law School professor, in ``Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby.''
``At the elite educational institutions . . . the programs are increasingly dominated by the children of the middle class.''
No federal statistics exist to track college enrollment of blacks based on family income. But in the University of Maryland case, the Washington Legal Foundation submitted a document showing that 55 percent of the recipients of the minority scholarships would not have been eligible for aid based on family income alone. And Blackburn estimates that half the recipients of U.Va.'s University Achievement Award would not qualify for aid.
That has pushed critics to advocate a switch to affirmative action for the poor: Offer preferences in admissions not to blacks, but to low-income students. Instead of minority scholarships, they say, substitute grants for students whose families earn less than, say, $20,000 a year.
``Why not give it to the white son or daughter of the coal miner in western Virginia instead of the son or daughter of the black doctor who doesn't need a scholarship?'' says Kamenar, of the Washington Legal Foundation.
Blackburn, the U.Va. admissions director, says there's a still need for race-based scholarships: ``We're making up for our history of segregation and trying to create a more diverse student body.''
Maurice R. Berube, an eminent professor of education at ODU, sees a way to blend the status quo with the call for change: He thinks black low-income students should get first crack at scholarships and white low-income students should get the next preference. ``You've got to focus on the group that suffers the most,'' he says.
Colorado State University is trying to do something like that. Since 1984, the school has annually given 75 ``First Generation'' scholarships, offering full tuition to students of all races whose parents never got college degrees. But the university also offers scholarships limited to minorities.
``We need a strategy that has many parts,'' says Paul Thayer, who directs the ``First Generation'' program. ``Income is a factor . . . but there are many other factors built into society, and one of them is race.''
In a different twist, Regent University Law School offers nine scholarships a year to students of any race who plan to practice in minority neighborhoods. ``We want the underprivileged class to be served by lawyers, and we want them to come here, but we don't want to create the impression that the people we admitted were accepted by race and are not qualified,'' says J. Nelson Happy, law dean.
Schools can take other steps to ease the tensions over affirmative action. For starters, they ought to tell the public the precise role affirmative action plays in admissions, says Rupert Nacoste, associate psychology professor at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
``Colleges and universities have taken this hide-and-seek approach - we hide and you seek - and that's been detrimental,'' Nacoste says. ``People end up guessing about it. They use the media, they use hearsay, and that's where we get into trouble, without concrete information about the process.''
In his research, Nacoste has found that people react negatively because they assume that race outweighs all other factors, including merit. ``If they are told more weight goes to merit, people's responses are much more positive.''
Davies, the director of the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia, says the classroom is the perfect place to hash out the debate. At UCLA, a new course on affirmative action drew about 100 students from a variety of races last semester.
``If you teach the arguments for affirmative action and you teach the inequities that are implicit in affirmative action, you get a working case study of how policy is made in a democracy. It raises questions that have to do with politics, with economics, with the history of this nation.
``Teach the conflict,'' says Davies. MEMO: ARGUMENTS IN THE DEBATE\ Colleges are admitting good people, black
and white. It's not like we're letting in any minority applicant just
to up our numbers.
``I don't believe we admit anybody to William and Mary who is not
meritorious.'' - Timothy J. Sullivan, president, College of William and
Mary.
OK, but you should be admitting the best applicants, period.
``Universities have always tried their best to aspire to excellence.
That's different from settling for some standards that involve the
notion of minimal qualifications. There's a difference between saying
someone is qualified and saying they're the most qualified.'' - Robert
Detlefsen, director of research, Center for Individual Rights.
Colleges need more minority students to increase diversity on campus.
That'll improve students' education - and will enlarge the country's
work force.
``When you go to school, you learn not just from the faculty; you
learn from the people you eat with, the people you study with. The U.S.
population is about one-third minority. Not to engage that one-third is
morally wrong and economically foolish.'' - Gillian T. Cell, provost,
William and Mary.
Diversity is important, but it shouldn't outweigh merit.
``I believe they should have a mix of people in colleges, but I don't
think that somebody less qualified should get in. I just think it's
unfair to determine it on anything except how you're doing academically
and your qualifications.'' - Jennifer O'Brien, senior, Kellam High
School, Virginia Beach.
Minority kids often go to poorly funded public schools that offer
fewer advanced courses. They need a break to compete with kids from
richer areas.
``We say we want equal this and equal that, but you have to realize
it's not equal. If you're living in suburbia, where the average income
is above $50,000, then that tax base is going to take care of that
particular school. But when you're in an inner city, then that tax base
is going to take care of that school. You have to deal with not having,
and having the worst of things instead of the best. That's a problem
going into college.'' - James Wilcox, recent graduate, Norfolk State
University
Good point. But the best answer to that problem is to improve the
public schools so minorities can leave high school on an equal footing
with whites.
``Does it really make sense, having acknowledged that the quality of
academic preparation is inferior, to blithely ignore the consequences of
that and place them in competitive colleges where they'll be with people
far more advanced?'' - Robert Detlefsen, director of research, Center
for Individual Rights.
True, but universities can make a difference, if public schools
can't.
``The obligation of universities is to find ways to teach. We have
programs designed to help disabled students and athletes. If we can help
athletes, why can't we help other students?'' - Dana Takagi, associate
professor of sociology, University of California at Santa Cruz.
Affirmative action creates problems. It puts a stigma on minorities.
Some whites are resentful and look at all minorities in school as
unqualified.
``When you tell someone, `We are accepting people of your race
because we want to help you,' it creates a stereotype.'' - J. Nelson
Happy, dean, Regent University Law School.
It happens. But that's not the fault of the minority students, so
don't penalize them.
``That's a classic blame-the-victim formula. Would white students
feel more comfortable in all-white campuses? Yes. Is that a reason to
bring back segregation? Absolutely not. Higher education is not about
making people feel totally comfortable.'' - David Merkowitz, spokesman,
American Council on Education. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by LAWRENCE JACKSON, Staff
Cheron Bolton, a Richmond native, just finished her freshman year at
the University of Virginia. She is getting a four-year University
Achievement award, a full-tuition scholarship restricted to blacks.
Such programs, she believes, are a way to let blacks ``catch up.''
Linda Brown, a senior at Virginia Wesleyan College, worries that
affirmative action programs stigmatize black students. ``Standards
should be set for everyone. When you start changing them for
minorities, it's as if you're saying they're inferior or they need
things other students don't need.''
Photos
Sullivan
Detlefsen
Cell
Wilcox
Takagi
Happy
Merkowitz
Charts
Acceptance and Graduation Rates
Freshman Profiles
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