Eric Langborgh

    For the NAACP and other supporters of racial preferences, the University of Virginia’s (UVA) acknowledgment that it had been admitting less-qualified blacks as part of its affirmative action program was a slap in the face. Even more so was the recent disclosure that UVA President John Casteen III had secretly ended admission preferences back in June.

    The controversy began when Terence Ross of the UVA Board of Visitors confessed in September that the University was “clearly in some cases reaching a little bit down our academic standards” when enrolling black students.

    In a press release, the NAACP responded by characterizing Ross’ statement as “careless,” a “half-truth,” and “unacceptable.”

    The Virginia State Conference NAACP then responded on Sept. 25 with a resolution sent to Governor James Gillmore III asking for the removal of Ross from the Board. Gillmore subsequently denied that request, citing a lack of authority to do so.

    Meanwhile, The Chronicle of Higher Education on October 11 reported that Casteen had quietly ended his admissions office’s use of a scoring system that had been awarding extra points to black applicants four months previous to the announcement. “A lot of people expended a lot of emotional energy thinking there was a decision to be made in October,” an unnamed university official told The Chronicle, “but, in fact, the decision had been unilaterally made by Mr. Casteen in June.”

    Despite claims by preference advocates to the contrary, UVA had in fact been giving black applicants two “booster points” toward the total of eight required to insure admission into the College of Arts and Sciences. Hispanic and Asian-Americans did not receive the bonus points.

    Still, administration officials proclaim that race will for the time being remain a “factor” in the admissions process. UVA Dean of Admissions John Blackburn stated that no further changes in admissions policy with regard to race would be made this semester.

    Many students object to the use of racial preferences in admissions. “To say that because someone is a particular color they should get a check-plus somewhere  doesn’t really make sense,” Ryan Blackledge told the Cavalier Daily.

    “Virginia law states that race can’t be a deciding factor in admissions, yet the University has said it” will use race as a factor anyway, offered UVA College Republican Jeremy Scott. “Something’s just not right there.”

Group Preferences Cause Individual Harm
    Many recent federal court decisions—most notably the Hopwood v. Texas case—and voter initiatives like Proposition 209 in California have outlawed the use of racial preferences because of the voters’ recognition that those efforts seeking to give advantages to members of historically disadvantaged groups often have the effect of discriminating against individuals from non-favored groups. Such is the case observed at UVA.

    According to a recent study conducted by the Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO), blacks enrolled at UVA average 160 points lower on their composite SAT scores (math plus verbal) than white students, leading to an odds of admission of 44.93 to one for black students over whites.

    In fact, it was the threat of a lawsuit from CEO—and the subsequent advice from the University’s legal counsel that the use of race in admissions is not legally defensible—which prompted Ross’ criticism of the practice and may have been behind Casteen’s ending of the points system, though he denied that was a factor in his decision.

    However, Faculty Senate Chairman David Gies vowed to not let preferences go down without a fight. “I understand there are other views,” Gies permitted, “nevertheless, any change in our admissions policies would result in the appearance of the University as not being a welcome place for minority students and will result in a fewer number of minority student, to our great detriment.”