Alternative to College Affirmative
Action Hindered By Federal Privacy Law Alternative to College Affirmative
Action Hindered By Federal Privacy Law
By CANDICE CHOI
DiversityInc.com
Oct. 16, 2000
A state law designed to diversify colleges in Texas is being hindered by the federal privacy act. The law, which was signed by Texas Gov. George W. Bush in 1997 as an alternative to affirmative action, guarantees students ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating classes a spot at the state's public colleges and universities.
However, because of the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, colleges and universities cannot identify which students have placed in the top 10, said David Anderson, general counsel for the Texas Education Agency. The agency, which supervises public schools, cannot release the names of the top-ranked students. "Just as you can't give the information out to a credit card company, you can't give it out to a school," Anderson said.
As a result of the privacy act, university admissions officials must find the students on their own, out of the more than 200,000 high school seniors in the state. This leaves students who haven't heard about the guaranteed admission system in the dark, Anderson said. Anderson said he is not sure that colleges have a way of identifying the top 10 percent of high school students.
However, a letter has been sent from the governor's office to eligible students statewide, Anderson said. Included with the letter is a card that students can submit to request more information about the law, he said. Augustine Garza, director of admissions at the University of Texas (UT), Austin said UT circumvents the privacy act simply by asking individual high schools for their highest achievers. In addition, Garza said UT specifically recruits from underrepresented schools.
"We can be very focused. We appeal to schools that historically haven't sent us a lot of students," Garza said. Of the 11,400 freshmen UT admitted this fall, half were in the top 10 percent of their class, Garza said. "Do we miss some? Probably," Garza said. "Do we miss many? Probably not. I doubt very seriously that if they're students that are that are that motivated to make the top 10 percent, that they don't know of their opportunities." Although UT is active in its recruitment of students in the top 10 percent, Garza said he does not know if all public colleges in Texas are.
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