Home Press Center Discrimination in University Admissions Documented as a Nationwide Problem

Discrimination in University Admissions Documented as a Nationwide Problem

Wednesday, 21 February 2001

Contact: David Gersten (202)639-0803 Racial and Ethnic Preferences for Blacks and Hispanics Is Widespread  (WASHINGTON)— A detailed, 64-page study released today by the Center for Equal Opportunity concludes that racial and ethnic discrimination in favor of blacks and Hispanics and against whites and Asians is a widespread, national phenomenon.     CEO president Linda Chavez will discuss the study at a 10 a.m. press conference in the Murrow Room of the National Press Club on Thursday, February 22.     The study, authored by two independent consultants, Drs. Robert Lerner and Althea K. Nagai, analyzes admissions data obtained by the Center for Equal Opportunity from 47 public universities in a number of state systems, including California, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, as well as the national military academies at West Point and Annapolis.     “The colleges’ own data make clear that race and ethnicity are not only a factor in admissions, but are in fact an overwhelming factor,” said Linda Chavez.  She noted that at some schools black applicants are more than a hundred times as likely to be admitted as white applicants with the same SAT scores and high-school grade point averages.     Chavez called on the Bush administration’s Justice Department and Education Department to make fighting this discrimination a priority.     One of the schools—the University of Virginia—is specially featured on CEO’s website, <www.ceousa.org>.  As an interactive device, students can type in their SAT scores, grades, and other information, and then see how their chances of admission will vary if they are white, or black, or Asian, or Hispanic.     The text of the study has been posted on the CEO website, at www.ceousa.org.     The Center for Equal Opportunity is a nonprofit research and educational organization based in Washington, D.C.  It focuses on civil rights issues nationwide.