Two state lawmakers are asking the Attorney General to step in and evaluate a new admission policy for the UW system in fear of its negative repercussions.
State Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, and Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, sent a letter to Attorney General J.B Van Hollen seeking his formal opinion on the new holistic admissions policy.
The policy states that admissions should take into account a student's socioeconomic status and whether the student is in a minority group that has been historically underrepresented.
A new policy of reviewing admissions to 26 UW campuses was approved last Friday. This policy, already being instituted for the fall 2007 semester, will have an instant effect on anxiously awaiting applicants.
The legislators wrote: ""The new UW System admissions policy will harm students and families based on factors completely outside of their control, namely race and ethnicity.""
The letter additionally said the Board of Regents has to request legislation authorizing race and ethnicity as admission criteria. Otherwise, the Board could face ""potential legal confrontation.""
Grothman is strongly opposed to the policy change, arguing it increases divisiveness and racial tension.
""It calls into question the accomplishments of minority groups and UW is almost publicly saying that minority groups should have lower standards to enter,"" he said. ""Finally, it sets up a bureaucracy that some people should view themselves as a minority rather than just another citizen.""
According to Grothman, the whole university system has a left-wing bias that could potentially hurt some applicants.
""You have to wonder if a left-wing essay will be viewed more favorably than a more conservative one,"" he said.
He said the policy change would place a heavier emphasis on parts of the application such as the essay, rather than academics. He said the essay is not a clear representation of a student's ability, just as ""a take-home essay is most likely a representation of a student's roommate's intelligence who is also taking the course, not the actual student being graded.""
