Admissions in the UW System
Testimony to Wisconsin Legislative Council Special Committee on Affirmative Action, Jan. 11, 2007
Statement on diversity
By Vicki Washington, UW System Assistant Vice President for Academic and Student Services
Good Morning. I am Vicki Washington, Interim Assistant Vice President for Academic Diversity and Development at UW System Administration. I have served in that capacity since April, 2005. Prior to that time, I was the Assistant to the Chancellor and Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Programs at UW-Extension.
My focus this morning is to generally address the complimentary, but distinct, concepts of affirmative action and diversity and describe their application within the university system.
Within the University of Wisconsin System, affirmative action rules and practices apply to employment and contracts. Those policies and practices, regulatory in nature, are proscribed by federal and state laws. Various federal and state agencies monitor and enforce those rules.
In contrast, those regulations do not cover university admissions policies and decisions. As a public university, the University of Wisconsin System must serve all the people of the state and should lead the way in increasing educational opportunities for diverse student populations. Therefore the diversity components of our admission policies are determined by core educational goals and sound public policy.
Diversity, in this context, takes into account relevant human differences, perspectives and experiences. These evolve out of students’ varied educational backgrounds and experiences—public, private, home-schooled, magnet schools, or other settings. Students’ perspectives are also influenced by geographic locations, international exposure, family, nationality, race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, socio-economic class, religion and so forth. Among these many important differences, research demonstrates that race, ethnicity, gender and class significantly affect students’ opportunities and access to economic and social capital, and political power.
Equally important, research also demonstrates the educational and institutional benefits associated with racially-diverse student populations. Education is most effective in environments where students interact with people who possess different educational experiences, opinions and world views. These benefits accrue to all students, during and after their college experience, and they accrue to the institution itself. Just as dissertations and research documents fill our libraries and inform future generations, each student leaves their imprint on the campus in a way that shapes the future of that institution for years to come.
Studies suggests that the benefits are greatest when universities successfully achieve diversity in both the student body and the workforce (faculty and staff), while also employing programs that increase broader student engagement and involvement.
Research about the benefits of diversity for all students suggests a positive effect of diversity, particularly when group discussions include an issue with generally different racial viewpoints. For example, when “minority” opinions are present and voiced in group discussions, those minority viewpoints cause others to think about the issue in different ways, introduce novel perspectives to the discussion and are influential in the group. In other words, due to ways in which “race”, gender and class continue to shape life experiences in U.S. society, diverse student populations create richer, more complex learning environments that advance the learning, growth and development of all students.
On the other hand, the research evidence suggests that when students retreat from rich and complex opportunities offered by diverse campuses, and settle into homogeneous spaces, they miss out on many important educational benefits. For example, research in this area shows that heterogeneity of group members typically yields better problem solving than does homogeneity of group members. While homogeneity of groups tends to promote greater group solidarity and cohesiveness, it also leads to lower productivity, promotes “group think” and unanimity of opinion which tends to result in poor decision-making.
Diverse college environments provide opportunities that expand student perspectives, creativity, problem-solving and leadership abilities. As a public university, we must consider the broader social and economic implications for our state, as graduates from our 26 campuses move into the increasingly complex global world.
It is our obligation to prepare students for success in a diverse world. As such we have a duty to enable them to be not only be knowledgeable in those chosen areas of study, we must help them be flexible and comfortable with ambiguity, motivate people, work effectively as team members and team leaders, to work collaboratively and effectively with people who have different worldviews themselves and function as leaders in this world. Anything less would be negligent.
Thank you