NU officials dispute anti-affirmative action report

KearneyHub.com
By: Matthew Hansen, WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
10/08/2008

The University of Nebraska College of Law discriminates against white students because it has admitted black and Hispanic students with inferior grades and test scores, concludes a study by an anti-affirmative action group. The report, released Wednesday by the Center for Equal Opportunity, says a minority student with a score of 150 on the standard law school entrance exam has a markedly higher chance of admission than a white student with that score."Most Americans don't like discrimination . . . whether it's of the old-fashioned variety or discrimination of the politically correct variety, as well,'' said Roger Clegg, president of the Virginia-based Center for Equal Opportunity.School leaders scoff at that conclusion, noting that the vast majority of NU law students are white -- for example, six black students are in the first-year law class of 146. The school also gives preferences to rural Nebraskans, those who speak two languages and applicants involved in music and art, they say."We can better discuss foreign affairs if we admit students from other countries,'' said Steve Willborn, the law school's dean. "We can better discuss sports law if we admit a college athlete. And we can better discuss race-based police practices if we admit African Americans."We cheat all our students if we aren't allowed to take these sorts of things into consideration,'' he said.The skirmish over the law school's admissions practices is one battleground in a higher education war over whether universities should ever weigh a student's race and gender when giving out scholarships and admitting students.Nebraska voters are likely to decide the outcome on Election Day, when the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative, which would ban race-, ethnicity- and genderbased affirmative action, will be on the ballot.If the ban passes, university officials worry that numerous university programs to recruit and improve the academic standing of minority and female students will need to be changed or discontinued.An NU Medical Center summer institute for black Virginia college students could be in jeopardy, a UNMC vice chancellor says. A University of Nebraska at Omaha program that pairs black students with local businesspeople would need to be altered or ended, says the UNO business school dean. And all reference to race, ethnicity and gender would have to be deleted. [To read the entire story, go to: http://www.kearneyhub.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20157500&BRD=268&PAG=461&dept_id=577571&rfi=6 ]