UW-Madison officials called an urgent meeting Monday to warn students of an upcoming ""attack"" on university integrity after conservative think tank released a study it says shows evidence of ""severe discrimination"" against white and Asian students in UW-Madison's admissions process.
Provost of Diversity and Climate Damon Williams and Dean of Students Lori Berquam called the meeting after hearing about the Center for Equal Opportunity's press release.
In the statement, President Roger Clegg claims two CEO studies show evidence of ""severe discrimination"" based on race and ethnicity in UW-Madison undergraduate and law school admissions.
The study states that black and Hispanic students are admitted to the university despite lower test scores and high school rank compared to white and asian students.
CEO will hold a press conference to answer questions about the study Tuesday at 11 a.m, but Williams and Berquam wanted to preemptively warn students of what they believe are the organization's true intentions.
The ""aggressive and right wing"" organization's plan, according to Berquam, is to effectively eliminate affirmative action at UW-Madison.
""I was so upset that our students are going to have to wake up in the morning and deal with this,"" said Williams with tears in his eyes. ""That's not what students came here for.""
Williams said CEO has a history of attacking universities' admissions processes.
According to Williams, the organization begins by requesting data and information from the university, which they analyze.
Next, he said they issue a report and try to spin media in their favor, use sensationalized language and pit students against each other before moving forward with a lawsuit.
Williams warned students they will hear consistent commentary over the next 24 hours challenging the validity of some students' admission to the university.
But Williams told students not to despair, for every student admitted to UW-Madison is and deserves to be a badger.
""I want students to be able to be in power; to say this is who we are, this is what we value,"" Williams said.
He said students should lead the university's response against CEO.
According to Sarah Mathews, vice president of public relation for the Wisconsin Union Directorate, individual student leaders planned several oppositional responses to CEO's actions following the meeting.
One of the first responses will occur Tuesday, when students opposing CEO's stance will hold a rally ""to express their solidarity and pride in UW and a sense of togetherness,"" said Mathews.
""This is an unfortunate event happening at the UW, but at the same time I think it's beautiful the way its students are responding,"" said Rebecca Pons, a member of the administrative staff at Multicultural Student Coalition.
A debate over affirmative action between Clegg and a UW-Madison Law Professor is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday night, after which Mathews said students will question Clegg on the CEO studies.
