AROUND HIGHER EDUCATION: Ad target admissions policy

The Dartmouth HANOVER, N.H. (U-WIRE) -- A conservative public-policy firm placed full-page advertisements in approximately a dozen campus newspapers across the country, including The Dartmouth, earlier this year with headline "Guilty By Admission" accusing "nearly every elite college in America" of violating affirmative action laws when making admissions decisions. The ad, placed by the Washington-based Center for Individual Rights, urges students to download or send away for a free handbook on how to investigate their colleges' adherence to laws on race and admissions. The handbook also details what students can do if their institutions are in violation of those laws. According to the Center's senior counsel, Terence Pell, CIR targeted these particular schools because, according to a study conducted by the Center for Equal Opportunity, race plays a larger role in admissions selection at more competitive institutions. Dartmouth President James Wright defended Dartmouth's admissions policy, saying that any accusation that the college is in violation of racial preference laws would be "incorrect." "We're not in violation of any law and we are going to continue at Dartmouth to admit a rich and diverse student body," Wright said. "I'm not at all uncomfortable with the process we use in admitting students." The CIR handbook outlines the main court decisions and laws regarding affirmative action admissions procedures. Most of the Center's assertions that affirmative action policies are illegal center around the 14th Amendment, which affords all people equal protection under the law.