{"id":46,"date":"2006-07-02T22:37:13","date_gmt":"2006-07-03T03:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/?p=46"},"modified":"2006-07-02T23:45:55","modified_gmt":"2006-07-03T04:45:55","slug":"cover-letter-to-board-of-regents-on-minority-admissions-preferences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/?p=46","title":{"rendered":"Cover Letter to Board of Regents on Minority Admissions Preferences"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>February 3, 2001<\/em>These published attachments mark the Board of Regents&#8217; entry into a long-awaited public discussion of diversity and particularly race preferences in admissions. First came the public criticism of UW-Madison by Regents Alexander and Randall who question the strength of the campus commitment to diversity and Plan 2008 (<span class=\"under\">The Daily Cardinal<\/span>, Nov. 21, 2000). Then in November Regent Mohs questions whether race should continue to be considered in admission decisions at UW System institutions (<span class=\"under\">Wisconsin State Journal<\/span> and <span class=\"under\">The Capital Times<\/span>, Dec. 12, 2000).<\/p>\n<p>In early January Regent Mohs in effect challenges the Board to abandon its long-standing but unacknowledged policy of race preferences (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssc.wisc.edu\/%7Ewhansen\/mohs_col.html\"><span class=\"under\">Wisconsin State Journal<\/span>, Jan. 17, 2001<\/a>). Regent President Smith responds by defending race preferences (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssc.wisc.edu\/%7Ewhansen\/smith_col.html\"><span class=\"under\">Wisconsin State Journal<\/span>, Jan 21, 2001<\/a>); interestingly, his response marks the first official acknowledgment by the Board of Regents that race preferences are used in admitting students to UW System institutions.<\/p>\n<p>In reply to Regent President Smith, I describe in detail the role played by race in UW-Madison admissions; the evidence demonstrates that race is decisive rather than merely one among many criteria used in admitting undergraduate students (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssc.wisc.edu\/%7Ewhansen\/div_fail.html\"><span class=\"under\">Wisconsin State Journal<\/span>, Jan. 28, 2001<\/a>). A slightly modified version of that analysis follows and is directed to the UW-Madison student body (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssc.wisc.edu\/%7Ewhansen\/logic_un.html\"><span class=\"under\">The Daily Cardinal<\/span>, Feb. 2, 2001<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>I trust that the public dialogue on race preferences will expand in the coming months. I hope it will lead the Board of Regents to reconsider the use of race preferences in admission and programs. The end result, I expect, will be the elimination of race-based discrimination. Such action will finally bring the University of Wisconsin into conformance with Wisconsin statutes, 36.12, which prohibit discrimination based on race in admissions and programs.<\/p>\n<p>I look forward to your reactions to this opening public exchange of views on diversity.<\/p>\n<p><em \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>February 3, 2001These published attachments mark the Board of Regents&#8217; entry into a long-awaited public discussion of diversity and particularly race preferences in admissions. First came the public criticism of UW-Madison by Regents Alexander and Randall who question the strength &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/?p=46\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}