University Times

The decision of the Board of Regents of the University of California to discontinue any consideration of ethnicity, race or gender as factors in admission; the passage of Proposition 209 by California voters banning the use of race and gender in affirmative action programs run by the state, and the Hopwood ruling by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disallowing race-based affirmative action at the University of Texas have combined over the past two years to create a great deal of uncertainty about the future of minority students at the nation's colleges and universities.

The situation has created so much confusion in the minds of so many people, in fact, that last month the Association of American Universities, representing 62 of the nation's leading research universities, including Pitt, adopted a resolution supporting the right of universities to use affirmative action in their admissions procedures.

In that statement, published in the April 24 edition of The New York Times, the AAU members expressed their "strong conviction concerning the continuing need to take into account a wide range of consideration – including ethnicity, race and gender – as we evaluate the students whom we select for admission." Despite bans in California and Texas on using race in admissions, many educators believe that affirmative action remains the best way to insure diversity on their campuses. It is a view that appears to be supported by the figures. According to The Washington Post, since 1995, when the University of California regents prohibited using race as a criteria for admission, the number of minority (black and Hispanic) students admitted to UCLA's and Berkeley's law schools has dropped by 80 percent. At the University of Texas at Austin, according to the Post, minority admission is down 85 percent in the law school and down 20 percent for undergraduates.

So where does Pitt stand in this confusing mix of court rulings and other actions? According to Peter Shane, dean of the law school, what happened in California and Texas has no direct bearing on Pitt.

The decision by the regents of the University of California affects only schools within that state system. California Proposition 209 banning the use of race and gender in affirmative action programs run by the state likewise does not apply to Pitt because Pennsylvania does not have a law prohibiting universities from pursuing racial diversity through affirmative action.

From a purely technical legal standpoint, according to Shane, even the Hopwood ruling by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas does not affect Pitt because that court only has jurisdiction in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

As far as affirmative action is concerned, according to the law school dean, Pitt still is bound to follow the Bakke decision handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1978. In that decision, according to Shane, the court said race can be taken into account in decision-making by universities in a variety of ways, including admission and hiring, to remedy past discrimination. Race can only be used, however, so long as it is not the decisive factor or rigidified into set aside quotas. Shane said the University of Texas had such a rigid racial quota system that it is not clear whether the school would have passed muster even under Bakke.

While minority applications appear to be on the decline at many institutions, Pitt is doing "reasonably well" in recruiting minorities and achieving racial diversity under Bakke, according William Savage, University director of Affirmative Action.

"It appears that we are going against the current tide," Savage said. "Most of our peer institutions, public aid institutions, are experiencing a decline in the number of applications received from under-represented minorities." While Pitt last year registered a decline in enrollment for first-time black freshmen from 13.7 percent of the student body in 1995 to 11.7 percent in 1996, and first-year professional students from 7.9 percent in 1995 to 6.5 percent in 1996, overall the number of minority applicants has continued to rise. As of the end of April, according to Savage, the University has seen a 25 percent increase in all student applications and a 24 percent increase in black applicants. Savage said the increase in the number of minority applicants at Pitt is due to individual effort by Admissions office staff and the desire of the University to create an image that welcomes minorities. According to Savage, Pitt takes pride in its commitment to equality of opportunity and diversity, and has been working to get out that message. "What we are trying to do at Pitt is get the word out that diversity is alive and well at the University of Pittsburgh," Savage said.

One way in which Pitt has been striving to keep on top of the diversity issue is through the chancellor's diversity working group, which meets every six weeks to discuss diversity and related topics such as affirmative action.

According to Nancy Washington, co-chair of the diversity working group, the group, including Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, has discussed at length what has occurred in California and Texas, as well as: "How we react and how we position ourselves and how we do, in fact, reaffirm our commitment [to diversity]." Washington noted that laws on diversity will change and that there always will be people who oppose inclusion. "But if we who believe this [diversity] is going to be enriching for everyone, we can keep setting higher sights and keep creating a greater vision," she said. "Then, I think, the overall movement [for diversity] is going to be forward and not stopped, and not brought back." According to Betsy Porter, director of Admissions, Pitt has been working to get out the message that it is minority-friendly through its literature and an aggressive recruitment program that targets minority students, particularly African American students. Pitt recruiters routinely visit high schools with large numbers of minority students to point out what the University can do for them.

"None of these legal interpretations, as I read them, has said anything about recruitment commitments and that's really the beginning of everything you do," Porter said.

Pitt recruiters also watch the competition for good ideas and tout the University's urban location, which is a big plus with many minority students. The University's urban setting and diversity have proven to be a positive influence in the recruitment of majority students too, according to Porter.

"When we talk to students who have decided to enroll at Pitt," she said, "what we hear back is that one of the things that was attractive to them was the University's commitment to diversity. Both majority and minority students want to come to Pitt because it is an institution that is representative. They will meet and learn from different people." Even with an aggressive recruitment program, Pitt's enrollment of minority students has been hovering just above the 10 percent mark for the past several years. The reason for that leveling-off, according to Porter, is the great demand nationwide for qualified African American students. The best minority students often have been accepted at a dozen or more schools, including Ivy League institutions with which it is very difficult to compete. "But I think we do reasonably well given the level of competition," Porter added.

–Mike Sajna