Michigan Fallout Spreads

After receiving a letter from a Republican state legislator warning of Michigan-like reactions, the University of Wisconsin has delayed action on a new admissions policy that would allow the consideration of race and ethnicity of all applicants. The current policy allows such consideration only for “exceptions” who fall below a grade and test score threshold.

State Rep. Stephen Nass (R-Whitewater) said in a letter to UW System President Kevin Reilly that the new policy was worded in a way that put non-academic factors on equal footing with academics and that “the holistic admissions policy provides no protections against racial, ethnic or income profiling by admissions staff at UW System campuses.”

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“Do the people of Wisconsin need to be placed in the position of passing a similar constitutional amendment by overwhelming numbers simply because some officials in the UW System have an agenda that isn’t representative of the middle class families financing public higher education in this state?” Nass wrote in the letter released Wednesday.

Nass staff member Mike Mikalsen said Thursday that a lot of legislators had concerns about holistic admissions and that it was “a hot-button issue” among constituents.

The UW Regents have decided to delay a vote on the proposed new policy until February, according to Danae Davis, chair of the Education Committee, because “it would be good to hold off approving it until the regents had spent time educating legislators and the public about it.”

It will be interesting to see who gets educated.

Say What?