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Ohio Preferences

Many people assume, incorrectly, that racial and ethnic preferences are an issue (if, indeed, they are an issue) only at elite colleges and universities. Not true, as the Center for Equal Opportunity?s new study of Ohio State and Miami University of Ohio demonstrate.

Roger Clegg, CEO?s president and general counsel (and occasional contributor to this blog), summarized the new study yesterday in the Columbus Dispatch:

The odds ratio favoring African-Americans over whites was over 10-to-1 or 8-to-1 at Miami, depending on whether the ACT or SAT was used, along with high-school grades and other factors. At Ohio State, blacks were favored nearly 8-to-1 using ACT scores, and more than 3-to-1 using SATs.

At OSU, the median SAT test score (math plus verbal) for blacks accepted for enrollment was 110 points below the median test score for accepted whites. At Miami, the gap varied from 130 to 160 points. At both schools, the median ACT score for blacks was even farther behind the median score for whites. Gaps were evident in high-school grades for the two groups, as well.

The two institutions tried to clothe their naked racial preferences with predictable swaths of holistic hot air, as reported without comment by the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Claire Wagner, a spokeswoman for Miami University, said the center?s findings had been skewed by its failure to look at more than a few of the two dozen factors her institution considers as part of a holistic, individualized admission process. Ohio State issued a similar statement, saying the report had looked at its admission process too narrowly.

Neither spokesperson explained how looking at the admissions data more broadly, or admiring all those holistic factors, could make the stark racial preferences revealed by CEO?s study disappear.

Full post as published by Discriminations on February 15, 2011 (boomark / email).