Report: Virginia schools' admissions biased against Asian American applicants

UVA

A new report claims the Universitiy of Virginia makes it tougher for Asian Americans to gain admittance.

Five Virginia schools are being accused of discriminating against Asian Americans student applicants.

A study by the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank, alleges that race is a major factor in determining who is accepted at the University of Virginia, and the College of William and Mary, and to a lesser degree at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (known as Virginia Tech), James Madison University, and George Mason University.

At UVA and WM, black applicants were admitted at higher rates than whites and Asian Americans. WM also admitted Hispanics at a higher rate than Asian American and white applicants even though the latter two groups had higher test scores.

The colleges are disputing the study's conclusions saying they use “holistic” admissions as permitted by the Supreme Court. But none of the schools commented specifically on the report’s findings for their own school.

“Virginia’s public universities are perhaps the country’s most selective among those still allowed to use racial and ethnic preferences,” President Roger Clegg wrote in an email blast. Yet “perhaps the most salient finding” is the uniform discrimination against Asian Americans in test scores by all five. (Differences in GPA medians, by contrast, are negligible across racial groups.)

James Madison University and George Mason University – two of the three that admitted white and Asian students at higher rates than black and Hispanic students – both claim that race is not a factor in their admissions process at all.

“Mason, a top tier research institution, is responsible for 64 percent of enrollment growth in the state in the last 10 years,” David Burge, vice president for enrollment management at JMU, wrote in a statement, “We pride ourselves on how many students we admit, not how many we turn away.”

“JMU is committed to diversity and strives to be an inclusive community that values the richness of all individuals and perspectives,” without making race and gender a “consideration” in admissions, spokesperson Wyatt told The Fix.

The conservative think tank's lack of communication with JMU led it to draw conclusions that are not substantiated by the holistic nature of its admission process, he said.

“Test scores are not a major factor in our decision making process nor do we consider overall GPA as part of the admissions decision,” he explained. “Without understanding our admission criteria, the report’s findings are useless.”

Among the other highlights of the report are:

• 35% of black applicants were admitted to UVA, as were 32% of Hispanics, 32% of Asian Americans, and 30% of whites.

• At WM, 41% of blacks were admitted, as were 50% of Hispanics, 37% of Asian Americans, and 35% of whites. The opposite was the case for the other schools, which admitted Asian Americans and whites at a higher rate than blacks and Hispanics.

• VT admitted 68% of Asian Americans and 74% of whites, compared to 61% of Hispanics and 50% of blacks.

• JMU admitted 79% of whites, 72% of Asian Americans, 60% of Hispanics, and 53% of blacks.

• GMU admitted 87% of whites and Asian Americans, 75% of Hispanics and 68% of blacks.

The Center's report comes on the heels of a lawsuit against Harvard's admission porocess alleging that the university discriminated against Asians applicants. In that case, the court ruled that Harvard's use of affirmative action policy did not discriminate against Asian Americans.

The plaintiffs in that suit, Students for Fair Admissions which reportedly represents Asian students who were denied admission despite having higher test scores than Latinos and blacks who were admitted, is appealing the ruling. It is expected that the Harvard case will wind up in the US Supreme Court.

Similar to the Virginia schools, Harvard looked at students applicants holistically and used race as one factor in determining a student's application.

“Virginia’s public universities are perhaps the country’s most selective among those still allowed to use racial and ethnic preferences,” President Roger Clegg wrote in an email to the campus community. 

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NCAA: In a game of tall men, Filipino American stands out

Kehei Clark's toughness and quickness makes up for his height.

With his team two points behind and less than 6 seconds on the clock and his team facing elimination in the NCAA Final Four game to determine the best college basketball team in the nation, Kehei Clark stood at the free throw line.

Clark made his first free throw making it a one-basket game. He missed his second free throw and a teammate tipped it into away from the opponents, Clark, noted for his speed, was the first to the ball. He could have passed to his fellow guard who was calling for the ball. Instead, he saw teammate forward Mamadi Diakite alone 20 feet away from the basket. In one movement,  Diakite caught the ball, turns around and shoots at the basket. Swish! Game tied. Overtime!

“(Clark) made an unbelievable play to find Diakite, and then Diakite had the wherewithal to shoot it immediately. Made a tough shot. … Obviously, it was a huge play. Play of the game,” said Purdue coach Matt Painter.

And the rest, as they say, is history. The University of Virginia went on to win the entire tournament.

Clark, whose mother is from the Philippines, is Virginia's starting guard and he's only a freshman. 

Recruiters who came to see him always departed with the same reservations.

“Every single one said he was too small,” said Derrick Taylor, Clark’s coach at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Calif., “and it didn’t matter how productive he was.”

“I always have something to prove,” Clark said in an interview with Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times.  “Being my size, I never pass the eye test.”

While recruiting  Clark, Virginia coach Tony Bennett t. said he saw past a 5-foot-9, 155-pound frame.

“So many people get caught up in dimensions, and there’s value and importance in that,” Bennett said, “but toughness, quickness, feel, savvy, those things (matter).”

His quickness brought another dimension to an already very good team. His defensive tenacity. come in large part from his father, Malik, a 5-10½ guard who played for the University of Hawaii-Hilo and named his son after the city on the island of Maui where he had proposed to his wife.

KIHEI CLARK: "He's a bulldog," says his coach.

Not a prolific scorer - yet - his ability to penetrate the other team's defense and then pass to an unguarded teammate because the defense zoom in to stop Clark, gives the Cavaliers an option they didn't have before. 

Clark's father knew all about facing doubts and he he knew his son would face his own doubters. That’s why he taught his son how to stay in front of the player he was defending.

In one game, all by himself, he forced a 10-second violation when he kept the other team's point guard from crossing half-court.

Next year, with the experience of March Madness under his belt, Clark will be a veteran and one of the team's leaders in charge of team's offense.

It's a challenge Clark looks forward to on the road to his ultimate goal, playing in the NBA.

“He’s a tough, competitive guy,” Bennett said. “He’s one of the smaller guys I’ve ever recruited, but he doesn’t back down. Whenever you’re a smaller guy, that’s your life. You learn you don’t back down, and he’s a bulldog, pit bull, warrior-type player who knows how to play the game.”

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