Ward Connerly on Holistic Admissions
The American Civil Rights Institute’s Ward Connerly was quoted in a New York Times article about “holistic” or comprehensive admissions.
According to the story, holistic or comprehensive admissions supposedly allows officials “the luxury of thoughtfully knitting together a multitalented student body as well as a diverse one” by looking beyond grades and scores.
In less flowery language, holistic or comprehensive admissions criteria typically are “noncognitive” factors like personal essays, extracurricular activities, so-called leadership skills, disadvantaged backgrounds, etc. The process isn’t new or innovative; it provides a way for schools to admit more lower qualified minorities to satisfy an arbitrary diversity standard.
“One catalyst for holistic review is the desire for a diverse student body without quotas,” says NYT.
Are noncognitive assessments a proxy for race? It depends.
If all applicants are assessed under holistic or comprehensive review equally, the process would be fair, for lack of a better word. As I’ve asked many times, why would this kind of review result in more black students? Do admissions officers use a heavier hand when applying it to black applicants than they do with Asians or whites?
“The anti-affirmative-action activist Ward Connerly says that ‘many publics are converting to comprehensive review in anticipation of the demise of race preferences.’ He favors the approach but objects to what he calls attempts ‘to circumvent the Constitutional prohibition against the use of race’ by admitting students who fall short on academic achievement.
“As a regent of the University of California, Mr. Connerly also acted, he says, to ‘remove legacy and fat-cat preferences’ as factors in admission. ‘If you’re going to have a system that rewards admission on the basis of individual achievements,’ he explains, ‘I concluded that it would be hypocritical to eliminate race but to keep legacies or be admitted on the strength of some donor who wanted a friend to be admitted or a relative.’
“Mr. Connerly was referring to the admission scandal that has roiled the University of Illinois’s Urbana-Champaign campus in recent months. The Chicago Tribune uncovered a ‘clout list’ of well-connected and sometimes unqualified applicants who were given special consideration; a state commission called the process ‘perhaps unparalleled among universities in its level of formality and structure.’ In September, the university president resigned, and most trustees have been replaced.”
