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The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights today approved a list of 19 colleges and universities that it will examine for evidence of gender discrimination in undergraduate admissions.</p>
<p>The commission aims to find out if the institutionsa mix of public, private, religious, secular, and historically black colleges and universitiesare giving admissions preferences to men as the number of female applicants rises.
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<p>The article does not clarify, but I assume that these Universities have about a 50/50 male/female ratio yet the application ratio must be higher on the female side. Someone, somewhere will always find fault with the way Universities choose their classes. I am all for fairness, but in who’s eyes?</p>
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So I guess they’re allowed to discriminate based on race (something many colleges do) but not on gender. Something seems wrong here (i.e. any discrimination based on race, gender, height, weight, beauty, etc.).</p>
<p>What about single-sex colleges? Aren’t they discriminating based on gender more than anyone else?</p>
<p>From the article: “The colleges and universities will be subpoenaed by the commission not because their admissions practices have raised red flags, but because they represent a diverse group of institutions and are within 100 miles of Washington. (The commission has subpoena power only within 100 miles of where it holds its meetings.)”</p>
<p>Ergo, I wouldn’t get too steamed up about this. The commission (who’s actual regulatory power I would say is not that great) isn’t even investigating colleges that it thinks actually discriminate based on gender (except for the University of Virginia, which apparently got burned for admitting disproportionately more men as a policy). It’s just investigating a more or less random mix of colleges to find out if colleges in general offer preferential admissions status to men. With the purpose being I guess just to do a study? Anyway, the title of the article is kind of misleading.</p>
<p>Personally I do not mind the alleged gender discrimination if the colleges are striving for a 50/50 ratio.</p>
<p>The colleges will be subpoenaed by the commission despite the fact their admission practices have not raised red flags …</p>
<p>Government run amok. “We don’t investigate suspected wrong-doers … we’d rather investigate right-doers.”</p>
<p>Don’t some say tech colleges discriminate against guys (in favor of women)? Did they have no problem when all that was happening?</p>
<p>Ehh…I’m a girl and i see their point. While I am considering women’s college, I would only consider a coed school if the gender ratio was no more than 60-40, past that things get wah wah</p>
<p>rocket - i am not sure what the right answer is. But at a school like William and Mary,where they admit 43 percent of men that apply while only 29 percent of women, it isn’t too great to be a woman, where indeed you will have to be on average a better student that your male counterpart. </p>
<p>As you say, you may not find this form of gender discrimination bothersome, but some in our area do, as W & M is a great in-state value. Then again, I suspect that without this practice W & M would end up with a 65/35 class pretty darn quick, which might make it less attractive for both women and men from a social perspective. Tough call. </p>
<p>Having said this, I don’t like any form of discrimination. UNC is just living with their increasingly tilted ratio. Perhaps W & M should too. </p>
<p>And some might dispute W & M is discriminating. But we see it in the high schools here. The boys do get a break - not a huge one - but a break nevertheless.</p>
<p>Discussion of an earlier news article about the same civil rights inquiry can be found here: </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/829053-college-admission-rates-women-spur-civil-rights-probe-wash-post.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/829053-college-admission-rates-women-spur-civil-rights-probe-wash-post.html</a> </p>
<p>There are some interesting replies there. The constitutional law is actually different as to discriminating on the basis of sex (sometimes permitted) compared to discriminating on the basis of race (very highly disfavored, and held unconstitutional in some Supreme Court cases on college admission). But the statutory federal law treats both forms of discrimination as illegal practices. </p>
<p>[Know</a> Your Rights](<a href=“http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/know.html]Know”>Know Your Rights)</p>
<p>It’s funny how we accept the idea that colleges can discriminate in order to get the sort of student body they want, but we would be furious if our employers did the same.</p>
<p>I work for a government contractor whose staff is about two-thirds female. A woman in my department quit recently. It would be unthinkable for my supervisor to say, “If we get equally qualified male and female applicants for this position, I’m going to go with the man because it will help to correct our gender balance.” Yet colleges say exactly the same thing and get away with it.</p>
<p>I think that’s because we’re less concerned about things getting “wah wah” in the workplace, as rocket6louise put it.</p>
<p>I don’t know, but I suspect that the gender balance in education issue has been researched. There are probably some studies showing how the educational environment changes with different ratios, and how learning is affected. </p>
<p>I have noticed in some private elementary schools in our area, there is a strict, publicly stated goal of 50-50 gender balance.</p>