Admission Bias Charge Stirs Jefferson Admission Bias Charge Stirs Jefferson
washingtonpost.com
By S. Mitra Kalita Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 2, 2003; Page B01
A law professor's article about what he calls "invidious race discrimination" in admissions at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology has caused controversy at the Fairfax County magnet school even before its publication. Student government leaders want to invite the author to speak at the school. Their principal says that would be "unconscionable."
In an Albany Law Review article due out this week, George Mason University Prof. Lloyd Cohen says the admissions committee at Jefferson, one of the country's most prestigious high schools, discriminates against white students by "admitting the largest number of black students available." To reach his conclusion, Cohen, father of two Jefferson students and a third child who was not accepted, focused on the 10 blacks in this year's freshman class of 430 students. He examined the applicants' test scores and found that some of the black students who got in didn't do as well as whites who were rejected. Last month, the Student Government Association invited Cohen to present his findings.
Principal Elizabeth V. Lodal canceled the event. "How could any educator approve of allowing a situation where a group of their students would be publicly demeaned?" Lodal said. "These are very worthy kids. They passed the test. They passed 15 screeners. This is a place that is enriched by our diversity." Nearly 3,000 students across Northern Virginia apply to the Alexandria school every year, and 800 semifinalists are selected based on a multiple-choice test of verbal and math questions. A committee of guidance counselors, teachers and administrators reviews the semifinalists' applications -- which include a writing sample, a summary of extracurricular activities and three teacher recommendations -- to cut the list to 400.
Until 1998, Jefferson admitted some black and Latino students who didn't make it to the round of 800 semifinalists but came very close and seemed otherwise qualified. School attorneys advised administrators to abandon the practice after federal court rulings ended several affirmative action programs in schools nationwide.
Last year, Fairfax County Schools Superintendent Daniel A. Domenech proposed allowing 30 additional students into Jefferson from "underrepresented" middle schools -- those in less affluent and minority neighborhoods that typically send fewer students to Thomas Jefferson. Preferential treatment for minority students might not be allowed, he reasoned, but the law says nothing about geography. The district also began a test preparation course open to everybody but aimed at minority applicants. Still, minority enrollment at Jefferson has declined in the past five years because, Domenech said, so few black and Latino students make it into the pool of 800.
Lodal says the school has 21 black students of 1,669 students. But in pages of charts and diagrams, Cohen's law review article concludes that black and some Latino semifinalists have a higher probability of being admitted to Jefferson than do whites and Asians. To obtain the data, Cohen invoked the Freedom of Information Act. His report has been widely circulated among Thomas Jefferson students and their parents. At a school that sends dozens to Ivy League colleges every year, the debate has been sophisticated; a front-page story in the school newspaper referred to "regression analysis" and "index ranks." A group of tech-savvy students and alumni set up a Web site that provides a link to the report and allows readers to post comments.
Student leaders say they wish the debate could be more open and held during school hours. "I think it's unfortunate that at an intellectual institution, the administration is not supportive of free speech," said Student Government President Matthew Wansley, a senior and the student representative to the Fairfax County School Board. Cohen said the subject is "something of great interest to the students. This is a painful experience for black kids, but not because of anything I've said."
Lodal has met with groups of black students and their parents in an effort to ease tensions. In a letter inviting parents to a March 17 meeting, Lodal said the article "potentially violates the privacy of our students, which greatly distresses me and others who have read it." Jesse Jones, the father of the Jefferson senior who is president of the Black Student Union, did not attend the meeting with Lodal but said he read Cohen's article.
"I think he got information that the public should not have seen," Jones said. "I don't think I could go into a school and see what Mary Sue or John Doe got on certain tests." The debate has been heightened by a case that was argued yesterday before the U.S. Supreme Court, in which the University of Michigan defended its affirmative action admissions policies. Like other educators, Domenech said he is watching that case carefully.
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