The University has released figures showing the number of admitted students whose names appear on memos from the College development office - which tracks some applicants by the potential financial contribution their families and friends may bring to the University.
According to University spokeswoman Louise Dudley, of the roughly 16,000 applicants for the Class of 2003, 412 were specially referred to Dean of Admissions John A. Blackburn for various reasons.
Dudley said that 181 of the 412 total, or about 44 percent, of applicants specially brought to the attention of the Office of Admissions were offered admission in the Class of 2003. The University's acceptance rate for all applicants is 34 percent.
Of these 412 applicants, including those students recommended by Board of Visitors members and other sources, 92 applicants appeared on lists compiled by University development officials. These memos flagged the 92 applicants based on their potential financial benefit to the University. Twenty of these 92 students were admitted.
Dudley said she did not know if appearing on these lists played a role in the admission of these 20 students.
"It's hard to draw exact conclusions" from numbers, she said.
The University's acknowledgment of these lists has stirred debate among students and faculty, as well as within the administration.
"People have not been surprised as to the content of this story," she said.
Dudley said her department has received calls from people questioning the legality of the acquisition of memos from the College development office published in Wednesday's edition of The Cavalier Daily.
The memos revealed that the College development office assesses the size of gifts an applicant's family or friends have donated or may donate to the University.
She said several people were also concerned whether The Cavalier Daily followed privacy laws in printing these documents.
"Some names were not blocked and enough information was published to identify some people" on the lists, she added.
Virginia Secretary of Education Wilbert Bryant said tracking applicants are "certainly within [the University's] prerogative," but he said the issue is "related to their internal organizations at the University" and declined to comment further.
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