AFTER coming under criticism for last year's report on the use of race as a factor in admissions, the Center for Equal Opportunity, a national think tank based in Washington, D.C. released a sequel this week, this time taking into account legacy and in-state applicants.
Despite the noble-sounding name "Center for Equal Opportunity," the CEO is a conservative organization which aims to overturn affirmative action and bilingual education.
While the CEO's new and improved "facts" may support the argument of reverse discrimination, there are many factors missing that would give us a clearer view of race and ethnicity in admissions.
The most important thing to point out is that this report does not take into account essays, activities, course load, athletics, the reputation of the students' high schools and other non-statistical information in evaluating the admissions process here at the University.
While it may seem like a formidable task to undertake, the CEO has jumped to conclusions, saying that the University practices discrimination against white students.
If the only criteria for admissions were SAT scores, GPA and class rank, then the CEO would be right on target. But these are not the sole factors in admissions, and the CEO's over-simplified numbers lose merit as a result.
In fact, according to its "admission predictor," a white, male, out-of-state, non-legacy student with a 1320 SAT score ranking in the top quarter of his senior class has a 0.95 percent chance of being accepted to the University. If that student were black? His chances of being accepted becomes 51.65 percent.
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This is a gross simplification of the admissions process. While it might seem like a neat toy to have, it hardly seems accurate. According to this, my chance of being admitted would have been 11.85 percent, or 93.72 percent had I been black. As an optimist, I'd like to believe that I wasn't admitted to U.Va. as a fluke.
The University accepts applicants primarily based on their ability to succeed, thrive and contribute to our community. Extracurricular activities, essays and other intangible methods of acceptance are highly weighed in the admissions process.
The truth is that most universities, including this one, look for a well-rounded individual to accept. Academics is just one part of being a well-rounded individual. The criteria that the CEO report ignores all are indicators to the admissions office of a well-rounded individual. It's wrong to jump to conclusions without the whole picture. But there is significant room for error in the figures the CEO provides as well.
On the University's undergraduate application, divulging one's race or ethnicity is optional. According to the report, the CEO simply discarded these unmarked applications, refusing to analyze them. There is nothing in the report that would tell us how many of these applications have been discarded by the CEO because of this purpose.
But even after supplying all these questionable figures, what does the CEO hope to accomplish with this report? Will it provide a fair playing field for all students? Not when black high school students tend to come from urban, impoverished schools, according to a U.S. Department of Labor report.
Will this have any positive impact on Grounds? It will only make minority students, students who are perfectly intelligent and are a very positive contribution to our University, feel like they were unfairly assisted by the admissions process.
But what about difficulties African-American students might face? According to the same report by the U.S. Department of Labor, the average wage of a black male is 76 percent of that of a white male. This drops to 65 percent among black women.
If the CEO is really concerned about equal opportunity, then where is the outrage about these figures?
Black Americans are more likely to be born into poverty, more likely to live under a single parent, and less likely to have a computer in their home. The sad fact is that discrimination against blacks is far greater than discrimination against whites.
With so many racial problems that we should be worried about, such as discrimination, wage and employment gaps, using highly questionable figures to justify reverse discrimination is just pointless.
(Brian Cook is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at bcook@cavalierdaily.com.)
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