College Leaders Favor Race-Based Admissions

Half the college presidents support consideration of race in college admissions, a U.S. News & World Report survey found. But only 22 percent of student editors agree.

The survey, released today with the magazine’s annual college rankings, found 57 percent of student editors favor giving preferential treatment to poor students only.

Twenty-eight percent support considering race when granting scholarships, compared to 57 percent of college presidents.

The survey, taken last spring as affirmative action began to grab national political attention, also found sharp differences concerning campus race relations: 90 percent of college presidents called them fairly or very positive, compared with 49 percent of student editors.

Since the survey was taken, the University of California’s governing board has ended its policy of race-based admissions and hiring at the urging of Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican presidential hopeful.

Other Republican candidates have pledged to end federal affirmative action programs, but President Clinton has broadly supported the programs. And no other public universities are currently considering ending affirmative action.

In the magazine’s college rankings, Harvard University grabbed the top spot for the sixth straight year. Princeton and Yale tied for second and Johns Hopkins made a big jump to No. 10.

In a new category, Dartmouth College in New Hampshire topped the list of national colleges for outstanding teaching, and Carleton College in Minnesota was first in teaching among liberal arts colleges.

Last spring, the Wall Street Journal found that some colleges had sent inaccurate data to U.S. News and other magazines that compile college rankings, including inflated SAT scores for incoming freshmen.