State Official Upholds Race-Conscious Admissions at U. of Wisconsin

July 27, 2007
The Chronicle of Higher Education News Blog

State Official Upholds Race-Conscious Admissions at U. of Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s attorney general has issued an informal legal opinion to state legislators concluding that a race-conscious freshman-admissions policy adopted by the University of Wisconsin’s Board of Regents for the entire university system does not conflict with a state law intended to prevent the system’s campuses from engaging in discrimination.
Soon after the board adopted the policy, in February, 15 state representatives and four state senators sent Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen a letter challenging the legality of the policy, which calls for system campuses to consider race and ethnicity as part of a comprehensive review of applicants. Specifically, their letter alleged that the new policy conflicted with a 1973 law prohibiting the system from making admissions decisions using “sectarian or partisan tests or any tests based upon race, religion, national origin of U.S. citizens, or sex.”

[For the entire story, go to: http://chronicle.com/news/index.php?id=2757?=atnb&commented=0#txpCommentInputForm ]