At its annual meeting in April, the American Association of Universities adopted a statement underscoring the importance of continued attention to diversity in university admissions. The statement was endorsed by the presidents and chancellors of the AAU's 62 member institutions, including President Neil L. Rudenstine, who served on a three-member task force that prepared the statement. The full text of the statement appears on page 9.

On the Importance of Diversity

in University Admissions

On April 14, during its annual spring meeting in Washington, D.C., the Association of American Universities adopted a statement that expresses strong support for continued attention to diversity in university admissions.

The Association of American Universities consists of 62 leading North American research universities. These institutions are represented at the association's meetings by their president or chancellor.

The text of the statement that was adopted April 14 is reproduced below.

For some time, the consideration of ethnicity, race, and gender as factors in college and university admissions has been strenuously discussed both within and outside of the academy.

The public debate about the goal of diversity, as well as affirmative action; the 1995 decision of the Regents of the University of California to discontinue any special consideration of ethnicity, race, and gender as factors in admissions; the passage of Proposition 209 in California; and the Hopwood ruling of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals have all combined to create substantial uncertainty about the future representation of minority students within our student bodies. Special efforts to identify and enroll women--particularly but not only in fields such as mathematics, the physical sciences, and engineering--may also be affected.

As members of the Association of American Universities, we therefore want to express our strong conviction concerning the continuing need to take into account a wide range of considerations--including ethnicity, race, and gender--as we evaluate the students whom we select for admission.

We speak first and foremost as educators. We believe that our students benefit significantly from education that takes place within a diverse setting. In the course of their university education, our students encounter and learn from others who have backgrounds and characteristics very different from their own. As we seek to prepare students for life in the twenty-first century, the educational value of such encounters will become more important, not less, than in the past.

A very substantial portion of our curriculum is enhanced by the discourse made possible by the heterogeneous backgrounds of our students. Equally, a significant part of education in our institutions takes place outside the classroom, in extracurricular activities where students learn how to work together, as well as to compete; how to exercise leadership, as well as to build consensus. If our institutional capacity to bring together a genuinely diverse group of students is removed--or severely reduced--then the quality and texture of the education we provide will be significantly diminished.

For several decades--in many cases, far longer--our universities have assembled their student bodies to take into account many aspects of diversity. The most effective admissions processes have done this in a way that assesses students as individuals, while also taking into account their potential to contribute to the education of their fellow-students in a great variety of ways. We do not advocate admitting students who cannot meet the criteria for admission to our universities. We do not endorse quotas or "set-asides" in admissions. But we do insist that we must be able, as educators, to select those students--from among many qualified applicants--who will best enable our institutions to fulfill their broad educational purposes.

In this respect, we speak not only as educators, but also as concerned citizens. As presidents and chancellors of universities that have historically produced many of America's leaders in business, government, the professions, and the arts, we are conscious of our obligation to educate exceptional people who will serve all of the nation's different communities. The evaluation of an individual applicant to our universities cannot, therefore, be based on a narrow or mainly "statistical" definition of merit. The concept of merit must take fully into account not only academic grades and standardized test scores, but also the many unquantifiable human qualities and capacities of individuals, including their promise for continuing future development. It must include characteristics such as the potential for leadership--especially the requirements for leadership in a heterogeneous democratic society such as ours.

We therefore reaffirm our commitment to diversity as a value that is central to the very concept of education in our institutions. And we strongly reaffirm our support for the continuation of admissions policies, consistent with the broad principles of equal opportunity and equal protection, that take many factors and characteristics into account--including ethnicity, race, and gender--in the selection of those individuals who will be students today, and leaders in the years to come.

Association of American Universities member institutions

Brandeis University

Brown University

California Institute of Technology

Carnegie Mellon University

Case Western Reserve University

The Catholic University of America

Clark University

Columbia University

Cornell University

Duke University

Emory University

Harvard University

Indiana University

Iowa State University

The Johns Hopkins University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

McGill University

Michigan State University

New York University

Northwestern University

The Ohio State UniversityThe Pennsylvania State University

Princeton University

Purdue University

Rice University

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Stanford University

Syracuse University

Tulane University

University of Arizona

University at Buffalo-State University of New York

University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Davis

University of California, Irvine

University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, San Diego

University of California, Santa Barbara

University of Chicago

University of Colorado, Boulder

University of Florida

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign University of Iowa

University of Kansas

University of Maryland, College Park

University of Michigan

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

University of Missouri, Columbia

University of Nebraska, Lincoln

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

University of Oregon

University of Pennsylvania

University of Pittsburgh

University of Rochester

University of Southern California

University of Texas, Austin

University of Toronto

University of Virginia

University of Washington

The University of Wisconsin, Madison

Vanderbilt University

Washington University in St. Louis

Yale University

 

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Copyright 1998 President and Fellows of Harvard College