A recent lawsuit at the University of Georgia has refueled the debate on using race as a factor in college admissions.
Ten Georgia applicants claimed they were rejected from the university due to their race and/or gender.
The U.S. District Court ruled in July that using race in admissions is unconstitutional, prompting the university to offer admission to or pay more than $63,000 in total to the applicants in a settlement signed earlier this month.
Six of the rejected Georgia applicants did not accept the late offers of admission.
According to a Georgia official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the argument over application discrimination is not unique to Georgia.
"There are other schools undergoing similar discrimination questions and lawsuits; this settlement merely eliminated pending cases," he said.
Is the University of Virginia one of the "other schools?"
The University recently eliminated a point-based admissions policy in which applicants were assigned a rating based on both academic and non-academic factors, including race. The Office of Admissions now considers race as one of many factors for admissions, including economic background and legacy status.
William Harmon, the University's vice president of student affairs, said using race as a factor in admissions could be problematic.
"If we include such factors as race in admissions, then it tends to create problems for the institution itself," Harmon said. "While we embrace diversity, it appears that race has become a factor that people must reject for consideration."
Michael Costa, President of the Black Student Alliance, said he believes the college admissions process is not immune to discrimination.
"It carries over from society," Costa said. "The college admissions process is part of society and is prone to discrimination as well." As individual cases arise, "peaks of concern and action about discrimination vary."
M. Rick Turner, dean of African-American Affairs, believes there is no reason to be concerned about unqualified students being admitted because of their races.
The University "believes in affirmative action," Turner said. "No schools who believe in affirmative action are discriminating against anyone. The reason we're so strong is because everybody who's admitted belongs here."
In a separate case, three white female applicants filed a lawsuit against Georgia in 1999 claiming they would have been admitted if they were men or minorities.
The idea of reverse discrimination also surfaced at the University of Virginia after the Center for Equal Opportunity, a Washington, D.C.-based special interest organization, asserted that "the relative odds of admissions to U.Va. show a strong degree of preference given to blacks ... and Hispanics over whites"
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