Although recent court cases are placing pressure on the University's admissions policies, University President John T. Casteen III said the University has not changed its admissions policies and needs to maintain progress in providing equal opportunities to all students.
Last week several faculty members and administrators discussed whether using race as a factor in admissions is permissible under current law.
Board of Visitors member Terence P. Ross, who is heading a special Board committee investigating the University's admissions practices, said using race as a consideration is illegal.
But Casteen said the Board has not formally changed any admissions policies.
"My sense from the lawyers is that our admissions system is defensible, probably because of its equal opportunity origins," he said.
Casteen defined equal opportunity as using "goals and general time lines" as opposed to affirmative action, which is "quotas and deadlines for meeting them."
The University's admissions policies over the past 40 years have helped to further the goal of equal opportunity, he added.
"The challenge now is to understand a legal situation that changes constantly, [and] sustain the best of what we have accomplished," Casteen said.
Office of African-American Affairs Dean M. Rick Turner said he agreed with Casteen, and that the University needs to defend the system of using race in admissions.
"Race is a plus factor in the admissions process just as legacy is," Turner said.
Casteen's statement "shows leadership from the top and is right on target," Turner said. "All of us who believe in diversity within the admissions process have to defend ourselves in this legal arena.
"We cannot turn back the clock of progress," he said.
Casteen said the University's current system of taking race into consideration when granting admissions has worked well.
"We have a broad commitment to a principle, which we generally call equal opportunity, and this principle has served the University, Virginia and our students' educations very, very well," he said.
In past years the University has tried to achieve a "critical mass" - a substantial representation of students from a specific minority group, he added.
"There is good evidence to show that isolated students face greater academic challenges than do students who find a mainstream community of other students whose backgrounds and experiences make a certain amount of group sense," Casteen said.
Turner said the University does have a "critical mass" of black students, and emphasized the necessity of maintaining this group.
"African-American students have created an identity with the University," he said. "A 'critical mass' creates diversity, an identity [for students] and a feeling of being."
Equal Opportunity Programs Director Karen Holt said she agreed with Casteen on equal opportunity.
"We have, by virtue of our history, to make up for years of not granting equal opportunity" for students of all races, Holt said.
She said there are two general defenses of using race as a factor in admissions - as a method to overcome the "past vestiges of segregation" and as a way to achieve diversity.
Some proponents of considering race in admissions are moving towards citing diversity as a defense because diversity "has a benefit in ways that is unexpected" and affects all students, she added.
Despite recent concerns that the Board may be making a move to eliminating the use of race as a factor in admissions, Black Student Alliance Co-President Fabienne Nicaisse said students are not taking strong enough stances to prevent such an occurrence.
"I think people should step up," Nicaisse said. "I hear a lot of faculty members say they are committed to keeping diversity, but they are not doing enough to prove their commitment."
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