Initiative-200 and the “real” impact it had on minority admissions in Washington State
March 3, 2008
The article, “The End of Affirmative Action in Washington State and Its Impact on the Transition from High School to College,” offers some fascinating insights to the actual impact that affirmative action has had on colleges throughout Washington State. It discusses observations made mainly about Washington State University and University of Washington (UW), the state’s main research universities. Initiative-200 was implemented in Washington State in 1998, banning affirmative action in the admissions process to college. After this ban, statistics were retrieved to monitor the impact it had on minority admissions rates for 1999 and the following years. A table of data from the Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction, Washington State, and UW admissions and records database shows patterns and the rates of applications, admissions, and actual enrollment into the University of Washington. According to this table, minority admissions rates showed a slight decrease in the year after the installation of I-200. Some can argue that this decline in minority admissions rates is due to the absence of affirmative action, supporting the claim that affirmative action is needed in our system to prevent discrimination. On the contrary, there is also strong evidence to show that this drop is directly related to the decrease in minorities who actually applied. According to the table, it is suggested that I-200 did not have a significant impact on minority admissions to UW because in the following years after 1999, admissions rates seem to realign with the admissions rates before I-200 was employed. In looking at admissions rates for minorities in the following years after 1999 and taking into account the decline in the number of minorities that applied, this counters the previous argument and supports that affirmative action is unnecessary in our admissions process in Washington State.
March 18, 2008 at 11:57 pm
I find it ridiculous that the states are lowering the number of grants while the tuition costs continue to rise, especially in a time like this when the question of whether or not were in or will enter a recession is on everyone’s minds. Also do they not understand that to get the lower income families out of debt and moved to the upper and middle class’ they must provide more social benefits to help them, the rich don’t need any breaks and yet they’re the ones getting them.