Race has been changed from a qualifier to now being for statistical purposes only for Wisconsin’s DPI Precollege Scholarship Program. According to the new application instructions: “Effective July 1, 2005 the DPI Precollege Scholarship Program has changecd from awarding scholarships to minority students to offering scholarships to students who are eligible for free or reduced lunch.” The scholarship was formerly known as the “Minority Precollege Scholarship”.
The changes come after 3 years of investigation by the federal government.
The investigation of the complaint stalled while federal and state officials waited for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide upon two affirmative action cases involving the University of Michigan. Those cases were decided in June 2003.
The high court’s rulings essentially upheld the use of race and ethnicity as considerations in college admissions, but disallowed the use of quotas in establishing classes. Some legal experts have interpreted the rulings as also preventing the use of race and ethnicity in a way that would exclude certain groups from eligibility.
Journal Sentinel: State pre-college program removes race as criterion
The program first began with 813 students, and that number has since grown to 3,747 annually. According to the latest annual Department of Public Instruction figures, of the students receiving scholarships, 300 were American Indian, 700 were Hispanic, 717 were Asian and 2,030 were African-American. A significant number of those students have gone on to college, said Esteban Romero, a Milwaukee coordinator with the DPI’s Wisconsin Educational Opportunity Program, which oversees the scholarships. Romero said the program previously drew heavily from urban areas, and because funding for the program hasn’t increased, he anticipates that fewer students from Milwaukee will get a shot at a college education now that rural communities will be factored in.
…
But Vicki Washington, interim assistant vice president for UW System’s Office of Academic Diversity and Development, said the Precollege Scholarship Program was previously a key pipeline for students of color to UW institutions, and the shift has concerned university officials.
“Students of color are still an underrepresented group, and we don’t want to lose the progress we have made.”
Slowplay.com COMPARISON
Univeristy of Wisconsin - Madison enrollment information for 2004-2005:
Minority: 4,043
International: 3,201
Caucasian: 30,236
Unknown: 1,376
UW Non-White Enrollment (w/o International): 11.8%
Wisconsin census information taken in 2000:
Whites: 87.3%
Non-whites: 12.7%
Related: A study of High School Graduation Rates in the United States by Jay P. Greene, Ph. D., Senior Fellow, The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. (from data between 1993 and 1998)
Wisconsin has the worst graduation rate for African-American students at 40% even though it had the third best overall graduation rate.
Eric Anderson at 11:03 am
