The Virginia Polytechnic Institute Board of Directors announced this month that the university will no longer be using race as a factor in its decision-making in any way.
Virginia Tech is the most recent entry in the controversy surrounding Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger, two cases regarding the use of race in college admissions that will be heard by the Supreme Court next week.
The decision to change the policy was made in a unanimous Board vote and applies to hiring faculty and staff as well as to graduate and undergraduate admissions.
The change in policy came just weeks before the April 1 hearing in which the Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of the University of Michigan's use of race in admissions.
Virginia Tech Director of Admissions Karen Torgersen said that she was unsure of any direct connection between the school's decision and the cases. Instead, she said she thought that it was tied to a position Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore has taken recently, saying that the Board of Directors might be held personally liable if the university is sued for using discriminatory practices.
Torgersen believes that the decision was made, at least in part, because of the way Kilgore interpreted a Virginia law regarding discrimination. She stressed, "it's not even a law [that the directors are responding to]. It's an interpretation by one attorney general, by one individual."
"This decision was made behind closed doors. No one in the university knew that the decision would be made prior to the meeting."
She added that no one in the Office of Admissions was consulted before the decision was made.
In the past, Torgersen said that Virginia Tech used "race as one of many factors we consider in admissions, and I've always been very comfortable with that."
The Board of Directors did not give any indication as to how the Office of Admissions would adhere to the new policy, and Torgersen said that it was "still waiting for clarification." Torgersen noted the new policy would not affect this year's admissions cycle, given that most of the decisions have already been made.
The decision has been met with outcry from the Virginia Tech community. Many are upset that it was made in such an autocratic manner, and in part due to community pressure, the Board of Directors has agreed to reconvene on April 6 to re-evaluate its decision.
Torgerson hopes "we'll have the opportunity to discuss this issue in a more public setting."
While Virginia Tech took more drastic action than most universities, the pending Supreme Court decisions have sparked nationwide controversy regarding the use of race in admissions.
Penn spokeswoman Lori Doyle said the University is "not planning to change anything in our admissions process for now. We're going to wait and see how it turns out."
Doyle said Penn uses several factors in a "carefully designed competitive admissions process" and that race is just one of those factors.
"It seems to me that [those opposed to using race in admissions] would be in the minority," she said.
