UW Unveils Plan for Scholarships
The Seattle Times Company Local News : Saturday, October 21, 2000
By Ray Rivera Seattle Times staff reporter
University of Washington President Richard McCormick yesterday unveiled a rough draft of an ambitious - though legally ambiguous - $65.6 million scholarship proposal to restore freshman minority numbers on campus to pre-Initiative 200 levels. The plan, which is still in its early stages of discussion, would use private donations to help the UW compete with the nation's top schools for the brightest students of color over the next four years. But the plan could run into legal snares in light of I-200, the 1998 Washington voter initiative that outlawed affirmative action in state hiring and admission policies.
The proposal, which must still undergo legal review by the state Attorney General's Office, was presented during the UW Board of Regents monthly meeting. No action was taken on it. In an unrelated matter, the board approved a 15 percent raise for McCormick, bringing his annual salary from just under $248,000 to $285,000. The board, praising McCormick's performance, said the new salary would keep him in line with the 75th percentile of presidents at the university's 24 peer public-research institutions, the level at which he was hired in 1995. It was at least his third salary increase since being hired.
McCormick's scholarship proposal is one part of a larger effort to increase diversity on campus. The number of underrepresented minority freshmen fell 31 percent in 1999, the first year of admissions after I-200. The numbers are up this year but still below pre-I-200 percentages, particularly among Hispanics, the only minority group whose numbers did not rise this year. McCormick's proposal would offer full-ride scholarships, worth $13,115 a year, to underrepresented minority applicants who score an 80 or higher (out of a possible 100) on the university's admission index. The index is based on grade-point average and SAT or ACT test scores.
The state-mandated minimum to qualify for consideration to the UW is a 28. Minority applicants with an index score of 60 to 79 would receive scholarships valued at $10,000 a year, according to the proposal. The four-year program would cost an estimated $65.6 million by the time freshmen recruited in the fourth year graduate. Some regents questioned whether they should be competing for the best students, who according to the university's research have little financial need and are sought by numerous schools, or focusing on students with lower scores with strong potential.
The proposal also raises "a number of serious legal problems," according to Terence Pell of the Washington D.C.-based Center for Individual Rights, a party in an anti-affirmative action lawsuit against UW Law School. "If the school is raising the money and administering it, and the donors are getting a tax exemption, then it's the school's money," Pell said. UW officials, however, say the program is in line with a legally reviewed regents policy passed in April 1999 that allows for private scholarships, grants and fellowships to promote diversity. The policy states that if a court rules it cannot legally administer the money, the university would transfer administration of the funds to an outside foundation.