Clegg explains CEO findings
Center for Equal Opportunity President Roger Clegg said UW-Madison's holistic admissions policy engages in racial and ethnic discrimination during a state committee hearing Monday.
In September, conservative think tank CEO released a study alleging UW-Madison favors black and Latino applicants over white and Asian applicants in the undergraduate and law school admissions process.
Committee on Colleges and Universities Chair Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, raised concerns about UW's admissions policy following the study's publication in September and called for the public hearing.
Although the hearing was public, speakers from UW-Madison were selected from a list submitted to Nass by the university.
""It is simply untenable for our government institutions, including our state universities, to treat some people better and other people worse depending on skin color and what country their ancestors came from,"" Clegg told the committee Monday.
Of the public schools studied across the country, Clegg said UW-Madison has the most discriminatory admissions policies.
Clegg said UW-Madison should be considering socioeconomic disadvantage instead of skin color when considering enrollment.
There is a ""big difference between saying that you're going to give special consideration to students in the face of poverty [and giving] special consideration to students because of their skin color,"" Clegg said.
The group based its findings on ACT and SAT scores, as well as retention rates.
State Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, critiqued Clegg for exaggerating how ""divisive"" the issue is in Wisconsin.
""You've determined the problem but you've also enhanced what that problem is,"" Berceau said.
UW-Madison Vice Provost Paul De Luca said CEO's analysis ""disturbed"" him by focusing on ""quantitative variables"" in admissions decisions.
""No student is accepted solely because of race or ethnicity or any other non-academic factor for that matter,"" De Luca said.
The UW Board of Regents may take up the UW admissions policy at its next meeting in December.
-Samy Moskol
Student groups take new approach
During a hearing at the Capitol discussing UW-Madison's holistic admissions policy Monday, some student and teaching assistant groups abstained and held a press conference to discuss ""more important"" issues facing the university.
In September, controversy erupted after the Center for Equal Opportunity said the university discriminates against white and Asian students in its admissions policy.
Originally, many student groups engaged in protests throughout campus but recently chose not to give CEO further attention.
""We all agreed that the CEO claims are not important,"" Associated Students of Madison Rep. Tia Nowack said. ""We didn't want to give them any satisfaction [of us attending the hearing].""
Although they deemed CEO's claims ""unimportant,"" the groups did not completely ignore them. Following the conference, the students marched down State Street chanting, ""Education is a right, not just for the rich and white.""
Nowack said ASM organized the press conference, which included student government, the Multicultural Student Coalition, the Teaching Assistants' Association and several other groups. When planning the press conference, she said the groups decided it should focus on issues facing the university that they deemed more important than the hearing.
""The legislators [should] focus on increasing accessibility in college rather than wasting their time listening to these out-of-state corporate interests complain about how there aren't enough white people at our school,"" ASM Rep. David Vines said.
Other problems discussed at the press conference included making higher education more affordable, creating a better job climate for students during and after college and combating voting restrictions caused by a voter ID law passed in May.
-Kelly Kallien
