Copyright © 1998 The Seattle Times Company

Posted at 01:52 p.m. PDT; Sunday, October 18, 1998

Efforts to diversify colleges get mixed results after 30 years

Background and Related Info.

by Marsha King
Seattle Times staff reporter

If Washington state is the newest war zone in the nation's long struggle over affirmative action, the state's universities are the front lines.

Initiative 200, on the ballot next month, would ban preferences based on race, ethnicity and gender in public employment, contracting and education. But it is education - in particular, college-admissions policies - that is the hottest hot button in this fiery debate.

The discourse over admissions includes mythology and misinformation from both sides of the initiative campaign. Additionally, there's been a lack of broad data on how the state's colleges and universities diversify their student bodies and on the likely effects of I-200 on those efforts.

To address the need, The Seattle Times spent the past six months examining the admissions practices of the state's six public four-year colleges and universities: the University of Washington, Washington State University, Western Washington University, Eastern Washington University, Central Washington University and The Evergreen State College.

The Times analyzed data on the 1997 and 1998 freshman classes.

The goal was to answer these questions: To what extent do these schools give minorities extra credit in admission? Do they do the same for women? Have efforts to diversify student bodies made a difference in their makeup? And importantly: What difference would I-200 make?

Here's some of what the research found:

  • I-200 would have very little impact on undergraduate admissions.

    It would not raise or lower the chances of admission for 98 percent of the high-school seniors who applied to a state college or university for this fall. Their status - admitted or denied - would be exactly the same as it is today.

    This state's four-year schools made about 27,700 offers of admission to high-school seniors who applied for this fall. Race made the difference in only about 440 cases.

  • Race counts in undergraduate admissions only at two state schools: the University of Washington and Western Washington University.

    Both schools, especially the UW, have more demand than space available and higher entrance criteria than their counterparts. Though most minority students get in without a boost for race, many others need that help or they wouldn't get in. The other state schools do not use race because they can accept nearly every applicant who meets their minimum standards.

  • I-200 likely will cut the chances for some students of color to be admitted to graduate and professional programs at the UW - unless other criteria can be substituted for race.

    Most minorities could not compete for admission on grades and test scores alone. For example, if only grades and test scores could be considered, no more than a handful of minorities would receive offers from the law and medical schools, and even fewer would enroll. However, should I-200 pass, both schools are expected to use other factors, such as economic status, to continue to promote diversity.

  • Gender never has been a factor in general undergraduate admissions, though it is a factor in some programs.

    Indeed, women outnumbered men last year at every state school except Washington State University and entered with overall higher academic qualifications.

    Today and tomorrow, The Seattle Times will probe these points in more detail. We'll explore what affirmative action has meant to higher education in Washington, and what's likely to change if I-200 passes.

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