The Cavalier daily :: Monday, November 2, 1970 :: University of Virginia Library

In the past few years, many diversified
problems have beset the Admissions
Office during the second part of the
admissions process: class selection. The
admission of women, minority groups,
and state residents, have been the most
major problems. Also affecting the class
selection has been a new philosophy of
class composition.

One of the problems in class selection
has been that of minority students.
Inherent in that problem has also been
the recruitment of these students to
apply to the University.

Part-time Recruiter

To effect a more successful
recruitment, the admissions office in
early 1968 hired Fred Stokes, a graduate
student, as the first part-time black
recruiter. Mr. Stokes was to contact
different schools not in the College Night
program and to advise counselors and
students on the changing image of the
University.

Unfortunately, Mr. Stokes was only a
part-time recruiter. In September 1968,
only ten black students enrolled in the
college. Although this was twice the
number of blacks ever enrolled previously, the
percentage and number of blacks in the College
during 1968 was still the lowest for any state
supported school in the South.

Later in 1968, conferences were held at the
University for guidance counselors in secondary
schools that were predominately black. The
problems of black students and the
opportunities open to them at the University
were discussed at these meetings.

In addition, Elizabeth Johnson was hired
during that same year as the first full-time
coordinator of minority recruitment.
Essentially, Mrs. Johnson was assigned a special
task, the recruitment of black students.

In 1969, 54 black students applied to the
College and 44 were accepted. Twenty-two
enrolled during that year. Again, admission had
doubled, but the number and percentage of
blacks were still low.

Finally, this year, drastic increases in black
and minority enrollment were noted by the
admissions office. 192 black students applied to
the College and 135 were admitted. 95 students
finally enrolled in September.

Fairness Of Tests

A number of factors point to the success in
the recruitment and admission of minority
group students. One of these is that the
admissions staff, according to Mr. Ern, has
realized that aptitude tests are not completely
fair and that students from low socio-economic
levels do not hit national means. They do reach
these means or better on achievement tests,
however.

To make up for this lower test scores, Mr.
Ern stated that the admissions office places
more emphasis on class rank, and the secondary
school report for any student, black or white,
coming from lower social levels.

Another factor has been the transition
program. Both black and white students who
have not quite reached the requirements for
college admissions but have shown themselves
to be serious students take part in the program.
During the summer before admission, they take
college level courses and prove that they can
handle college-level work.

Another problem that faces the admissions
office is the entrance of women in mass
numbers into the College this year. Last year,
federal courts ordered the College to co-educate
because the continuation of the segregation was
discrimination by a state institution.

Admission Of Women

To plan the admission of women, the Board
of Visitors decided to establish a three year
quota system. In 1970, 450 women would be
enrolled in the College and in 1971, 550
women are to be admitted.

In both years, the women would not take
the place of male admissions, but would be
added on to the growth of the College
enrollment.

Finally, in 1972, no female quota would be
used and any girl who could meet the College's
requirements would be admitted.

According to Ernest H. Ern, Dean of
Admissions, no quota was used in the admission
of women this year. Mr. Ern stated that while
his office was supposed to use a quota, they
decided to experiment and observe how many
girls would be admitted on the sole basis of
admission requirements.

By coincidence, Mr. Ern continued, 450
women met the admissions requirements and
were enrolled into the College.

A third problem that has beset the
Admissions Office is the enrollment of Virginia
students. In past years, Virginia had continued
the tradition unique among state institutions of
enrolling approximately 45 per cent of its
student body from out of state.

In this past year, however, in-state
enrollment increased from 55 per cent to
almost 65 per cent. Most of this increase can be
explained by the percentage of in-state women.
Over 79 per cent of the incoming females are
Virginians.

The regular admissions process has also been
changed by a new type of philosophy in the
staff. That philosophy has been the desire for a
well- diversified student body.

According to Mr. Ern, the class composition
is usually divided into 14 different categories.
There are, he stated, five major classes that the
admission office looks for in the applying
secondary school students.

The first major category is what Mr. Ern
termed "academic hot shots." These students,
he said, were those who would excel and rise to
the top of their class in academics.

The second major grouping was the "cross
country runners." According to Mr. Ern, these
students would probably do well academically
and go onto some type of graduate study.

The third category was the "all-around"
student. He would probably not be in the top
of his class academically, but would contribute
to the school in other ways. Included in this
group would be potential newspaper editors,
class presidents, and student leaders.

"Special claim" students made up the fourth
category. These students were mainly the
children of alumni or faculty or administrators.

The last major grouping of students was the
"happy bottom quarter."