University of Colorado Decides Not to Lower Standards in Order to Permit More Black Students to Meet the School’s Academic Requirements

This past January, Hank Brown, president of the University of Colorado system, created a blue ribbon commission that was assigned the task of making recommendations for increasing racial diversity at the state’s flagship campus at Boulder. The Boulder campus has been plagued with a number of serious racial incidents in the past two years.

The commission made several recommendations. One of the most controversial was a proposal to lower admissions standards so that more black and other minority students would be eligible to enroll. But the university has decided that it would not lower its academic standards.

Instead, the University of Colorado plans to increase funding for outreach programs at elementary and secondary schools with a high percentage of black students in an effort to “improve the educational pipeline.” In addition, the university will increase funding for its diversity scholarship programs by 50 percent.

Mandatory racial diversity training will be instituted for all students, faculty, and administrators on the Boulder campus.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.