The White House Strategies for Diversifying College Campuses

In this episode, I give my take on the recent White House & US Department of Education convening to highlight their recent report, "Strategies for Increasing Diversity & Opportunity in Higher Education."  This convening came on the heels of the SCOTUS ruling on race-conscious admissions. I give my Rant on two key points brought up by Gene Black, Chancellor of UCLA,  and Anne Kress, President of Northern Virginia Community College. Chancellor Block highlighted the importance of dropping the SAT & ACT as a strategy for improving diversity and both Block and President Kress reinforced the importance of community college transfer students for colleges and university looking to improve diversity and find talent for their campuses. 

Transcript

0:00

🎵

Samson Q2U Microphone & NexiGo N950P 4K Webcam: 0:07

Hi, this is the lawyer T's Oakley. And welcome back to the ramp, the podcast where we pull back the curtain. And break down the people, the policies and the politics of our higher education system. In this episode, I take time to do my own rent. Today, I'm talking about the September 28th convening. The ed was pulled together by near and Tandon director of the white house policy council and us secretary of education, Miguel Cardona. They brought together a group of well-known speakers to focus attention on a new report issued by the department of education titled. Strategies for increasing diversity and opportunity in higher education. This report was issued on the heels of the SCOTUS ruling on race conscious admissions. And it's a Biden administration's attempt Of ensuring that college and university leaders. Lean into the issue of. Diversifying their college campuses and ensuring that students of all backgrounds are welcomed. And this convening we heard from people like gene blog, the chancellor of UCLA. Chris. I's Gruber president of Princeton university and crests the president of Northern Virginia community college. Pat McGuire president of Trinity Washington university. Heavy array is president of university of Massachusetts Amherst and David Wilson. President of Morgan state university all did a great job to highlight what their institutions are doing. In order to create value on their college campuses by increasing the diversity of their student body and making sure that they open their doors. To Americans of all backgrounds. But I want to take some time to talk about the comments made by gene block of UCLA. And then Kress of Northern Virginia community college. I think these two comments are central to the conversations that we need to have across the country. And that institutional leaders need to ensure that they're thinking about. Because these are things that institutions can do today, regardless of the SCOTUS ruling on race conscious admissions. These are practices that either can end today. Or that they can be owned and valued and enhanced. In order to create greater diversity oncology university campuses. So what am I talking about? Let me begin with the comments of gene block. Jane has been the chancellor of UCLA for a long time. And he knows firsthand the struggle of operating under an environment where race and ethnicity can not be used in admissions. In California, we've been operating under prop 2 0 9. Since 1997. So UCLA has been at the heart of this challenge. And so gene block described two areas. That he felt had a significant impact on the ability of UCLA to increase the diversity on its great university campus. The first. Was ending the use of sat and act in college admissions, going test blind. This was a decision. That was made by the UC board of Regents. And all nine undergraduate campuses are now test blind. UCLA has benefited from this practice by ending, this practice is helped to increase. The diversity of the applicants. And has sent signals. To students throughout California throughout the country, that UCLA is open to talent, This is critical to increasing the diversity and UCLA has shown that it can operate. A highly selective well-known popular university campus without having to use standardized. Admissions exams. So I ask all institutional leaders, boards of trustees, boards of Regents across the country. To work with you, universities and, and the use of standardized tests in college admissions. This is one way. That you can significantly increase your outreach and the diversity of your college and university campuses. The other comment that he made, which was reinforced by an crest. Is the importance of transfer. The importance of transfer to a campus like UCLA, one of the largest transfer campuses in the university of California system. And that says a lot. Since about a third of the graduates of the university of California are transfer students. I was one of them. The use of transfer, looking at the talent that exists in community colleges throughout California. And in community colleges like Northern Virginia community college. Is key to bringing in the kind of diversity that we want to see in college campuses and the kind of talent. That we see on community college campuses throughout the country. This is a direct way. The colleges and universities can increase their diversity and increase the talent that they bring onto their. campuses. So to my colleagues. Who are institutional leaders, a college university campuses to my colleges who serve on boards that oversee. University system, state colleges. It's time to value transfer students, to look at them as an asset. And to work with your community colleges to increase the number of students coming. Directly from your community colleges onto your campuses. So embrace these changes. Yes. There are lots of other great things in this report that was issued by the department of education strategies that college and university leaders can use today. But two very important. And fairly easy to do. Practices. R one. And the use of the sat and the act. In college and university admissions and to. Embrace and value transfers. From community colleges in your state and throughout the country. Doing these two things will significantly improve your ability to have the diversity that we need. Oncology and university campuses, and to attract great talent to our colleges and universities. thanks for listening today. If you enjoy this episode, hit the like button. Follow us on this YouTube channel or on your favorite podcast platform. Leave me your comments. Let me know what you think about transfer and. The ending the use of sat and act. And continue to follow us. Thanks for listening and we'll see you soon.