THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 8, 1995 TAG: 9512080496
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
The two black board members at Old Dominion University attacked a plan to raise admission standards - and the administration's last-minute handling of the matter - in an unusually heated Board of Visitors meeting Thursday.
In a show of unity, though, they joined in a unanimous vote to approve the higher standards after more than an hour of debate.
The two members - the Rev. Anthony C. Paige and Edward L. Hamm Jr. - complained that the board had not received any information on the changes until Thursday.
``My main problem is, we have been preparing for this meeting for weeks,'' Paige said. ``. . . If we're going to be responsible, we need the information in advance.''
Hamm agreed: ``You're changing a policy; it's kind of a knee-jerk reaction with no ability for us to analyze the data.''
Their complaints about poor timing were echoed even by a few board members who supported the policy.
The board's rector, Arthur A. Diamonstein, defended the administration, noting that the Faculty Senate approved the new standards only Tuesday. But the senate's chairman, Robert L. Ake, said in an interview that the Faculty Senate didn't take action until Tuesday because the senate received the final draft from administrators just a few weeks before.
Hamm also questioned whether the measure would disproportionately affect minority applicants. ``We have a mission as an urban university; our objective is to provide opportunities for life to the public around us in a reasonable manner,'' he said.
Vice President Dana D. Burnett said 12 - or 20 percent - of the 60 freshmen who would have been excluded under the new policy this school year are African Americans. Acting President Jo Ann Gora said 24 percent of ODU's freshmen are black.
University officials acted to raise the standards after finding that 42 percent of last year's freshmen had less than a C average at ODU. Sixty percent of them have since dropped out.
But Hamm said he wasn't convinced that the new standards would have much effect on student achievement. ``If it only affects 60 people, it's not going to make a significant change in retention numbers,'' he said.
Gora said the changes were only a first step in raising standards. Other board members agreed that they sent a powerful signal.
``I have to believe that the standards represent the minimum expectation of a student to get into a university,'' Robert J. O'Neill Jr. said. `` . .To do less sends not a very good message: You don't have to perform in high school and yet you will be admitted to an institution of higher learning in the commonwealth.''
Vice rector William L. Rueger said, ``If we accept carte blanche students below this level, it devalues the degrees of students who work hard.''
The new admission standards include four categories of students who will be denied admission:
Those with less than a 2.0 - or C - average in high school.
Those with less than a 970 score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Those with less than a 2.5 average and 870 SAT score.
Those with less than a 2.3 average and 920 SAT score.
Burnett said the university could still make some exceptions for students in the first two categories but none for applicants in the other two.
Those numbers are based on the new scoring scale of the SATs. The figures approved by the Faculty Senate Tuesday were based on the old scale, which was overhauled in the spring.
The meeting Thursday was a marked contrast from the board's style of approving administration measures quickly and harmoniously. At one point, Hamm, his voice raised, also challenged Diamonstein on the board's role at ODU.
Diamonstein questioned whether the board should even meddle in these matters.
``It's not the board's prerogative to set policy,'' Diamonstein said. ``. . allowing us to participate in these decisions.''
Hamm responded: ``I'm amazed that you sit in that seat as rector of the board and make that statement. That's absurd.''
Diamonstein went on: ``We're attempting to run this university in a democratic manner.''
Hamm shot back: ``It sounds like attempting to rubber-stamp.'' by CNB