Questions are being raised as to how a 2003 Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, which stated race was one of many factors that could not be considered when deciding admission to a university or other programs, applies to financial-aid policies. The College Board hopes to answer these questions by releasing a manual meant to help colleges evaluate their diversity-related programs.

The guidebook will help clarify to both sides the most legal way to give financial aid.

Arthur L. Coleman, an attorney and author of the guidebook, said the guidebook was meant to illustrate what types of legal standards courts would apply when challenges arose and to highlight operational issues universities need to be aware of when designing new programs.

“The goal [of the guidebook] is primarily to make sure that institutions, if they wish to have an active diversity policy, do so in a way that is legally sound,” Gretchen Rigol, consultant on the College Board and a coordinator of the Access and Diversity Project on behalf of the College Board, said.

Rigol said after the Supreme Court decisions, there were many discrepancies among institutions as to how to interpret the rulings. Some universities perceived it as an affirmation they could continue doing what they always had done, while other schools felt nervous about the decision and desired to shut down some diversity programs. For these schools, the guidebook will help clarify what kinds of standards were set in the case and how they can be applied.

According to Fischer, the UW Office of Student Financial Services plans on reading the book and using the information. The office appreciates when experts do research on difficult and sometimes contentious policy issues, Fischer added.

“This campus will continue to strive to meet the needs of our students and applicants, the needs of the campus and remain compliant to the law,” Fischer said. “This new book is a guide, not the law. We hope to gleam some knowledge from it, of course.”

However, applications at the University of Wisconsin have always been evaluated in the way the Supreme Court ruled is the most fair.

“Our admissions process has always complied with all court rulings in this area. Even before the [affirmative-action] decision, we reviewed each file in its entirety,” UW School of Law Interim Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Mike Hall said.

Associate Director of UW Student Financial Services Susan Fischer said the university did not offer race-exclusive scholarships, which the guidebook describes as scholarships that are more likely to be legally scrutinized.

However, the Virginia-based Center for Equal Opportunity accused UW in January of providing the Lawton Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant as a race-based scholarship.

Lee Hansen, a retired UW professor of economics, said he believed the Lawton grants were racially exclusive.

“It says eligibility is restricted to African Americans, American Indians and Hispanics,” Hansen said. “Now that looks to me as if it is racially exclusive.”

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction was also forced to change their Minority Pre-College Scholarship program earlier this year after the federal government called the program racially exclusive.