Center for Equal Opportunity - Preferences in Virginia Higher Education

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Preferences in College Admission

Preferences in Virginia Higher Education

Written by By Robert Lerner, Ph.D. and Althea K. Nagai, PhD.

Executive Summary

All public universities in Virginia in this study show white admittees on average with higher test scores and grades compared to blacks admitted to the same schools. The gap in verbal SATs ranges from 100 points at William and Mary to 30 points at Norfolk State and Old Dominion. Differences in math SATs range from 110 points at William and Mary and James Madison University, to 40 points at Norfolk State. The composite difference in SAT scores at the University of Virginia is 160. Differences in GPAs are very small, ranging from 0.18 points at Longwood to 0.05 points at Old Dominion.
The odds of admission at four Virginia universities show a strong degree of preference given to blacks over whites (44.93 at UVA, 27.98 at William and Mary, 25.65 at JMU, and 18.52 at Longwood). At Norfolk State, GMU, and Virginia Tech, the odds of admissions are roughly the same for blacks and whites, and the differences are not statistically significant. There is evidence of preference given to whites over blacks at Virginia Commonwealth University and Old Dominion. The odds ratios of blacks to whites there are 0.60 and 0.64, respectively, and are statistically significant.
Many schools routinely reject many white applicants with higher test scores and grades than black applicants who are admitted.
Hispanic-white comparisons also show a qualifications gap in most instances. There is a modest gap in test scores between Hispanics and whites. The largest gap in verbal scores is 40 points at William and Mary; the largest gap in math scores is 25 points, also at William and Mary. Differences in GPAs are small; the largest is 0.27 at Longwood.
Odds ratios at five schools (UVA, William and Mary, JMU, Longwood, and GMU) show a small preference for Hispanics over whites. The odds ratio at Old Dominion shows, conversely, a small but statistically significant preference for whites over Hispanics. The odds ratios at Virginia Tech, Norfolk State, and VCU are roughly the same, and the differences not statistically significant.
There is almost no evidence that Asians receive preference over whites. Whites generally have better verbal scores, while Asians generally have better math scores. At five schools, Asians also have slightly better GPAs. The odds ratios show only William and Mary exhibiting a small but statistically significant preference for Asians over whites (1.52); the odds ratios at Virginia Tech suggest a small but statistically significant preference for whites over Asians (0.47). Statistical analysis shows no significant differences at the other schools.
The six-year graduation rates of whites are higher than those of blacks at every university in this study. This finding generally is consistent with the qualifications gap between blacks and whites in admissions and is similar to what we have found elsewhere.
Virginia schools would not be resegregated in the absence of preferences. All universities, if they used a colorblind admissions process, would have black admittees. Only UVA, William and Mary, and JMU (the more competitive schools) would probably experience significant drops in black admissions and enrollment, but most of the rejected students would be eligible for admission at the other Virginia schools.

Introduction

For nearly 30 years, racial and ethnic preferences have played a key role in how admissions officers at the nation's public and private colleges and universities have chosen their schools' undergraduate classes. A system of racial and ethnic preferences in admissions operates by establishing different standards of admission for individuals based upon their racial or ethnic background, with some students held to a higher standard and others admitted to a lower standard. Earlier in this century, some colleges and universities denied admissions to Jews, blacks, women, and members of other groups even when their grades, test scores, and other measures of academic achievement surpassed those of white males who were offered an opportunity to enroll. The passage of new civil rights legislation in the 1960s made this kind of blatant discrimination illegal.

Since then, however, many colleges and universities created programs meant to boost the enrollment of students whose backgrounds previously had excluded them from pursuing a higher education-especially blacks and, to a lesser extent, Hispanics-by granting them preferences during the admissions process. These policies, when their existence was made public, became immediately controversial, and they remain so today. Defenders of racial and ethnic preferences claim that these policies are not discriminatory and help administrators choose between equally or almost equally qualified students, giving a slight edge to applicants who likely have faced discrimination or have come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Critics of racial and ethnic preferences say that these policies are no better than the discriminatory ones they replaced and that the advantages they confer upon certain applicants are much greater than supporters are willing to admit.

Public colleges and universities have seen their ability to use racial and ethnic preferences increasingly restricted in the last several years. The enactment of California's Proposition 209 (also known as the California Civil Rights Initiative) forbids discrimination against or granting special treatment to any applicant on the bases of race, ethnicity, or sex in the public programs of the country's largest state. A similar ballot initiative in Washington state was approved by a large majority of voters in 1998. Grassroots activists elsewhere are bound to consider placing similar proposals on their own state ballots, and lawmakers-both in Congress and in state capitals-may enact legislation modeled on the new California and Washington laws.

This study examines the extent to which racial and ethnic preferences are used in the admissions policies of a cross section of Virginia's public universities. It submits 1996 admissions data supplied by these universities to a rigorous statistical analysis.

This report is the latest in a series published by the Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO), a Washington, D.C.-based, public policy research organization. Earlier CEO studies have focused on the public colleges and universities of Colorado, Michigan, and North Carolina, the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy, the University of Washington and Washington State University, as well as the branches of the University of California at Berkeley, Irvine, and San Diego. Previous reports have shown that blacks and Hispanics receive large amounts of preference in undergraduate admissions.

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