Although many colleges pride themselves on their efforts to increase diversity, a recent national survey suggests that some admissions offices may not take race into account enough when admitting students.

Only about one-third of universities and colleges actually consider race and ethnicity in their admissions policy, according to a report released this month by the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

The NACAC sent out a 21-open-ended-question survey in June to an estimated 1500 schools about admissions processes, said Sherry Frye, an administrative assistant in the organization’s public policy department.

The NACAC conducted the survey in advance of this summer’s Supreme Court decision on the University of Michigan’s admission policies so it could assess the correlation of race and admission the colleges and universities before it made any changes.

The University of Michigan court case declared using diversity as a factor in college admissions constitutional, according to an NACAC press release. The case did, however, outlaw the school’s numerical rating system for admissions.

Frye did not know if Syracuse University responded to the survey.

Like 74 percent of the surveyed schools, SU says in its mission statement that it is committed to increasing diversity in its student body. The Syracuse University Compact lists the four core values of the university, including the notion that it will ‘promote a culturally and socially diverse climate that supports the development of each member of our community.’ The Compact sparks an essay question for each SU applicant in the common application supplement.

However, the supplement states that the general criteria for admission are high school course load, high school profile, standardized test scores, personal essay, recommendations, extracurricular activities, special talents, good character and competition with other applicants.

The SU freshman class of 2007 comprises nearly 20 percent African-American, Asian-American, Native-American, Latino and Hispanic students, according to the SU admissions website. Four percent are international students.

College admissions administrators should consider race and ethnic backgrounds an important factor in the college admissions process, said Dela Awunyo-Akaba, a senior policy studies major.

‘If they didn’t, our schools would be very white,’ Awunyo-Akaba said.

Matthew Camacho-Edwards, a diversity education specialist and juris doctorate candidate, said if diversity is not a core value of a college or university, students will never learn that they live in a real world and global market place.

‘SU and other universities should stress the importance of understanding across race and ethnicity, national origin, gender, disability and sexual orientation because our nation and our world are not homogenous,’ Camacho-Edwards said.

The NACAC report also states that 74 percent of the surveyed schools use specific recruitment tactics to increase application and enrollment of underrepresented racial and ethnic populations.

SU offers underrepresented groups many retention programs, such as the Higher Education Opportunity Program, Student Support Services Program, Collegiate Science Technology Entry Program and McNair Scholars Program, Camacho-Edwards said.

No schools use minority quotas, or a reservation on a number of places for minority students, since a 1978 Supreme Court case declared quotas unconstitutional, said the NACAC website.

Even if schools consider race and ethnicities in their admissions, a numerically diverse student body does not necessarily ensure that students of varying backgrounds or race will interact.

‘It’s about how you can communicate and how well you can work with people who are different than you,’ Awunyo-Akaba said. ‘It’s not really about the numbers.’

Published on October 6, 2003 at 12:00 pm