As a public university our interest is to encourage diversity on campus, while treating applicants from all racial backgrounds fairly. We believe that our admissions system closely parallels that of the University of Texas. Our modern inclusive admissions system that uses holistic review is an important and fair way to encourage diversity on our campus. It is in the best interest of our University to support the University of Texas.

Argument:

The modern inclusive admission decision that our University uses to promote diversity treats applicants from all racial backgrounds fairly. The use of holistic review ensures that each applicant is given a fair review. The University of Texas considers all aspects of an applicant with race as one of many factors. This complies with the previous rulings in Bakke and Grutter. In the Regents of University of California v. Bakke the court ruled that the use of race could not be used as a main factor and there could be no quota system. The University of Texas strives to represent the demographics of the state of Texas in their university, which is not a quota system. They also use holistic review to create a diverse environment. Diversity not only includes race, but different economic backgrounds and sexual orientations as well. In Grutter v. Bollinger the court ruled that “racial diversity in higher education was a compelling governmental interest.” They noted that a university with different perspectives, experiences, and ideas would lead students to become more productive members of society.

Emperical social science studies have shown that informal interactional diversity leads to an increase in citizenship, racial, and cultural engagement. Classroom diversity leads to more intellectual engagement and an increase in academic skills. A study at the University of Michigan on classroom diversity assumed the hypothesis that classroom diversity led to higher levels of academic thinking by white students in their senior year. Another study found that white students gained more technology preparation, diversity competence, and general education due to diversity. On the other hand students of color gained more in career preparation and intellectual development from diversity. These studies show that the use of race in admission decisions benefits the whole class.

The classroom diversity also minimized the impact of stereotype threat. The stereotype threat is when minorities felt that their performance could confirm a negative stereotype about their group. Studies showed that on tests that directly impact students blacks scored lower than whites. On tests that did not directly impact students the black and white students were equal. These tests confirm the fact that colleges should use holistic review and that the college should not rely solely on test scores and GPA.