The MichiganDaily - Friday, November 5, 1993 -3 lbI " The University of Michigan's e " S ^ " . s r A * : :; MLy p Object of the game: Get past admissions without being or going crazy By DAVID SHEPARDSON DAILY STAFF REPORTER When a visitor roams through the base- *nt of the Student Activities Building, the thick smell of printer's ink permeates the air, even though no printing is done here. Stacks of forms, applications and University propa- ganda clutter the mail room. And thousands of sealed envelopes sit in trays waiting to be mailed. Hundreds of employees - many of them students - quickly process students' fates, sending them responses or forwarding appli- *ions for further review. Some envelopes are razor thin, becoming transparent when held up to the light, signifying deferment. Others bulge, replete with glossy brochures, housing information and a "personalized" let- ter of congratulations. But recently the University decided to slow this whirling process down to require a bit more reflection. The University's admissions office has W un a policy of reading all entrance essays 'automatically admitted students"-5,500 each year - which previously went unread. The intent: to prevent the admission of stu- dents with psychological problems or crimi- nal records on the basis of "unique or note- worthy" statements. While the policy is not a major change - and as University officials point out, some colleges have similar policies - it does high- liht the clandestine nature of the admissions icy. Moreover, the cold reality is that for years most essays have been routinely ig- nored by data entry clerks making around $5 per hour and intent on admitting as many students per hour as possible. But that is part of the assembly-line pro- cess of much of the University's admissions process: work-study students, data entry clerks and admissions officers deal with 19,000 ap- plications, thousands of campus interviews, Jormational meetings, phone calls and let- s. They even receive maize-and-blue-col- ored balloons, home-baked cookies, candy and even video tapes from students. (Admis- sions counselors eat the cookies, but say even chocolate chip ones do not sway their deci- sions.) In order to accomplish the goals of greater diversity in the University - this year is expected to be a record one for enrollment of under-represented minority students - and *ping the percentage of out of state students to only 30 percent, as required by the state legislature, much more care is given to these applications. . In a Sept. 24 memo entitled "Essay Read- ing," to all counselors, clerks, and admissions officers, Admissions Dean Theodore Spencer instituted a new policy of reading all applica- tions. "Provost (and Vice President for Aca- jn ic Affairs Gilbert) Whitaker wants a read- i g (of all essays) to spot any comments which might suggest the student might present a problem for the University community," the memo reads. Many news organizations, including the Chronicle For Higher Education, have misun- e understand counselors will have more work to do. However, it is clear that we need to review each essay to personalize the application review process on behalf of the University!' Theodore Spencer Admissions Dean derstood the intent of the memo, said Univer- sity Vice President for University Relations Walter Harrison. "This is not an attempt to deny admission to those with certain points of view. ... Given the rich tradition of radicalism at the Univer- sity, we would never deny admission to say, potential Marxists," Harrison said. At a meeting last year, Harrison says, Whitaker asked Spencer to have counselors read all applications. Harrison and Spencer say they do not know of specific reasons that triggered this decision. To date no formal announcement of this policy had been made or planned. Explicit or not, the memo opens the door for greater flexibility in denying admission on the basis of non-academic reasons. Harrison says students with criminal records should not be admitted to the University. And at some point in the future, this policy could be extended to other non-academic criteria, like evidence of extreme intolerance or overt rac- ism, says an admissions counselor who spoke on the condition of anonymity. In an interview with Spencer, he disputes this conclusion and denies any allegation that the University would use this memo to deny admission to racist or sexist students. He recalls reading many essays as dean and as a member of the Commission on Presi- dential Scholarships that were "clearly rac- ist." But most times it is not that simple. Appli- cations that might appear insensitive or re- flective of an intolerant past must be judged carefully, Spencer says. He remembers one admitted white studet's essay detailing a racist experience on a golf course. Playing golf with two of his friends, they saw several Blacks playing golf and one of them said "Let's hit them (with golf balls.)" The student used this experience to highlight his intoler- ant background and describe his change in attitude. "We do admit students that have attitudes that could be considered racist or sexist," Spencer said. With regards to criminal records, he de- flects criticism saying "there's no policy," and a criminal record is merely one factor of many in making admission decisions. Elsa Cole, University general counsel, says the policy is consistent with the broad latitude courts have given to public universities to set admissions standards. "The courts have recognized that univer- sities have the exclusive right to decide ad- mission standards, as long as they don't dis- criminate against students, violating any fed- eral or state law," she said. Brenda Bove, a staff lawyer in the Michi- gan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union says the practice of denying admission of students with criminal records, "is under investigation." The ACLU is working with a convicted felon who tried to enter Grand Valley State University, she said. It is "not clear" whether this is a violation of state law. RIG TEN S( HOOLS TAKING A DIFFRENI TA1 A survey of Big Ten university admission directors shows few other schools have the latitude the University is employing in deny- ing students admission for non-academic rea- sons. At Michigan State University, even con- victed felons are routinely admitted. The only restriction is the "currently incarcerated," cannot be admitted, says an admissions direc- tor. In a telephone interview, Pete Storey, ad- missions director at the University of Wis- consin-Madison, said "psychological prob- lems" are difficult to ascertain, and ques- tioned whether alleged evidence of such prob- lems could constitute a legitimate reason for denying admission. "We have nothing remotely comparable to Michigan," he said, adding that students are not required to submit an essay and that no student is asked whether they have a criminal record. Spencer says his office is looking for the Jay Basten, acting assistant undergraduate admissions director, reviews one of nearly 300 essays he has read this fall yesterday. A new policy for reviewing undergraduate applications could deny admission to qualified students on the basis of essay content obvious. "If a student writes in his essay, saying 'I'm going to commit suicide,' and it later came out we would be in trouble." At Ohio State University, Gayle Steppenhouse, an admissions officer, said there was great controversy on campus when his office considered denying admission to a convicted felon. HOW TH E PROCESS AT MICHIGAN WORKS Currently, about 5,500 in-state and non- minority students are automatically admitted, that is, accepted solely on the basis of a formula based on grades and test scores within a month of submission. The process, as in previous years, is as follows: A student's 10th and 11th grade aca- demic grades, excluding gym, music and the like, are recomputed. This is done because some high schools count 9th grade as part of junior high. The University adds or subtracts from that new grade point on the basis of an aca- demic ranking of the high school, number of students going on to college, courses offered and AP classes taught. In addition, one grade point is added for honors or AP scores. That number is added to the student's ACT or SAT score. If the number is above a certain level- about 3.6 on a 4.0 scale and 1200 SAT or 28 ACT - a big "A" is marked on the applica- tion by a file clerk and the student is sent a letter of acceptance. For the first time, the process has been revised to include the following steps: If nothing "unique or noteworthy is found," the counselor dates and initials the big "A" and sends the application to be filed and a letter of acceptance is mailed. ® If the counselor finds unique accom- plishments, he makes a copy of the essay and files it in a personal folder labeled "Unique Essays," for later reference. If the counselor finds evidence of psy- chological problems or severe criminal of- fenses, he refers the matter to the dean of admissions. Students with grades and test scores that write even an extremely poor essay will still probably be admitted, Spencer said. "In the past, we've had students re-write essays that were incomprehensible," he said. Spencer also said a badly written essay would begin additional inquiries to the student's high school. One infamous inquiry resulted in uncovering a student's attempt to submit an- other student's transcript, he said. FINDING "UNIQUE " ESSAYS FOR OFFICIALS In the memo, President James Duderstadt's staff requests anecdotal information about students from specific geographical areas. He will include this in his comments, to "person- alize" his visit to that community. Duderstadt makes about 20 visits each year to high schools alone, Spencer said. "This will allow him to talk to students about what classmates are doing, and their experi- ences at the University. "Before, when he or anyone else has wanted this information, we've had to search for it. This will facilitate the program better." (HANGAES IN P R(OCE D U RE' A HONOR For the honors program, non-minority stu- dents will for the first time be automatically admitted to the honors program with a GPA of 4.0, an SAT score of 1400 or more, or an ACT score of 33 or more. This process of automatic admission has been in place for minority students for the past three years. Honors will be reading 500 essays, thus relieving LSA counselors of some of the bur- den. Spencer said for the first time in many years the admissions program is at full em- ployment. About 25 full-time counselors currently work in the office. Each counselor is assigned an area of the country. Senior staffers, includ- ing Marilyn McKinney, Sheryl Fletcher, Rob Seltzer and Spencer are assigned parts of the country to solely recruit. Spencer, for ex- ample, has California. Liina Wallin, the associate director of the Honors program, who will be overseeing the reading of the 500 honors essays is skeptical about the effectiveness of this mandate and is one of only a few University officials willing to publicly criticize the new policy. "It won't work. Admissions essays simply aren't written with evidence of these prob- lems," Wallin said. "I don't really know what is to be gleaned from a close reading of the subtext." But counselors, spending only ten minutes per essay, will have to spend 835 additional hours reading essays. More students have been hired to assume responsibilities previ- ously done by counselors, like answering phones and doing campus tours. But in the beginning, counselors have been burdened by this new responsibility. "We understand counselors will have more work to do to review the "automatic admit" application essays," Spencer said. "However, it is clear that we need to review each essay to personalize the application review process on behalf of the University." It is personalizing that is critical. "Stu- dents who have written essays should have them read," he said. One reason the Univer- sity requires an essay, unlike most Big Ten universities, is that some students associate essay-writing with highly selective schools. Currently, about 50 to 60 part-time stu- dents work in the office. Spencer said, the number of employees the University's admis- sions office has is "about average" for Big Ten universities. For the Residential College, admissions counselor Alita Mitchell will review all appli- cations for psychological problems and crimi- nal records. Mitchell declined to comment on the status of her reviews of applications. Much the same work goes on in the mail room and in the offices of the admissions office this fall. And the policy that was not to be released may not prevent students from being denied admission -but it is a warning shot across the bow. ~. ~.:..+.. 'Ii s%"." U r u A kJl''" c I III 11IM II aIf I I A ~ ~ I lI EM II 'in l