The Supreme Court on Monday called for tougher scrutiny on colleges’ affirmative action policies, but did not eliminate their authority to consider an applicant’s race.
The University of Georgia is familiar with these legal issues. Its affirmative action admissions policy was ruled unconstitutional in 2001 by a federal appeals court.
President Michael Adams is stepping down Sunday, having served as president for 16 years. He discussed that 2001 decision and the issue of affirmative action during an interview June 11 with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Q: While UGA has become more diverse you have said UGA should look more like Georgia. How can that happen?
Adams: These are not simple answers. We are more diverse today. And the [admissions] standards have continued to go up. It is doable. It’s not doable easily.
I think we have to set very high bars for young people in K-12. I don’t think we yet talk enough about high school curriculum in this state. Four years of English; four years of math, foreign language, lab science, history. I think the general public is doing better in accepting those kinds of standards.
But the problem I see developing is we’re continuing to have a divide. About 40 percent of the schools in this state are very good and are producing young people we get to work with here, who can compete with kids from China, India, Germany, Brazil, you name it. In that upper 40 percent are more and more minorities who are doing the work, who are paying the price, who are basically getting themselves to an academic level where they can compete at a place like this.
We still have about 40 percent of the schools in this state that are not producing competitive young people. That is what worries me about the state for my grandchildren. We’ve got to figure out better ways to bring up the lower schools.
via UGA chief: high school standards key to needed diversity | www.myajc.com.
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