In my first political science class freshman year, I found myself in an honors discussion debating public policy. In our first week, we were asked to debate the various systems of college admissions, ranging from a lottery system to a complete meritocracy.

Among my 20 or so counterparts, I was the only student to speak in support of a college admissions system that accepts students based primarily and almost exclusively on merit – and I was ripped apart, particularly by those who supported some measure of affirmative action. In light of the recent report from the Center for Equal Opportunity and subsequent response by administration and students, I feel my views are once again in the minority.

Given the diversity goals openly expressed by university administration, I am not ignorant to the fact that some type of affirmative action is practiced at the University of Wisconsin. I checked that box that said Caucasian (read: privileged white girl) when submitting my own application. However, I always assumed that all admittees, regardless of race, were held to the academic standards on which this university also prides itself. According to the report from the CEO, however, African-American and Hispanic students were accepted at ratios of 576-to-1 and 504-to-1, respectively, over white and Asian students, yet their composite SAT scores were 100 or more points lower than white and Asian admittees. The more upsetting portion of the CEO report for me is not the unequal ratio at which black and Hispanic students are accepted over white and Asian students; rather, it is that those admittees are evidently being judged by unequal academic standards based on their race. The question, then, is why?

One popular argument is affirmative action, or that the admissions department assumes black and Hispanic students must have faced hardships in their life because of their race, which they can now correct for by offering them an elite college opportunity. In reality, though, an individual of any race could have faced hardships that put him or her at a socioeconomic or academic disadvantage, rendering the race of an applicant unimportant. Given society’s tendency to make unfair assumptions based on race, why even inquire about an applicant’s race on a college application?

A subsequent argument is that a university has a responsibility to promote diversity among the student body as part of a comprehensive social education. While I support UW’s mission to promote diversity, promoting diversity among a student body and ensuring that a certain ratio of diversity exists within a student body are entirely different things. Even on a campus where the student population is 100 percent white, students can be encouraged by administration and faculty to confront issues of diversity by engaging with society and members of other racial and cultural backgrounds outside of their academic experience. I believe it is the primary responsibility of an educational institution to promote academic learning.

Judging students of a certain race by one set of academic standards and students of another race by an entirely different set does a disservice not only to the many qualified students who were rejected, but to all those who were accepted as well by not fostering the best academic environment that could have been achieved.

I recognize that the issue is hardly black and white (no pun intended), and I am by no means trying to assert that any current student does not deserve to be a Badger. I do, however, find flaws with UW’s ongoing approach to college admissions. I believe UW and other universities would benefit in many ways from adopting a colorblind policy for admissions and giving more weight to factors such as academic merit, community involvement and socioeconomic background. As an educational institution, the University of Wisconsin should first and foremost be concerned with upholding and advancing the academic merit of its student body, not trying to achieve the ideal ratios for the color of its skin.

Emily Campbell ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism and communication arts