According to a survey commissioned by the New York-based Foundation for Academic Standards and Tradition (FAST), most American college students do not think institutions of higher education should use race as a factor in admissions.
Although 84.3 percent of the survey's 1,004 respondents said they thought ethnic diversity on campus was important, 77.3 percent said "schools should not give minorities preference in the admissions process."
In addition, 78.9 percent of the respondents said it was unfair to the student body as a whole to lower entrance standards for certain applicants, regardless of the reason.
FAST President Marc Berley said the survey was unprecedented in its subject matter.
"I think we asked questions that other surveys haven't asked," Berley said. He said the responses to the survey reveal that it is time for American colleges to rethink the way they evaluate applicants.
"We think that students' opinions count," he added. "The notion that this is a taboo subject should change." Berley said the abolishment of race as a factor in college admissions would not hurt American minorities if actions were taken to reform the earlier education they received.
"I'm concerned about how minorities [perform] in general, but I'm more concerned about how they do in [grades] K-12," he said.
Some critics have said the survey's questions skew responses against affirmative action.
"You can frame a question in any way you want to get an answer that you want," African-American Affairs Dean M. Rick Turner said.
But Berley said he disagrees with the criticisms. He said the question concerning using the use of race as a factor in college admissions was framed in several different ways.
He added that although he cares deeply about ethnic diversity on college campuses, he is opposed to affirmative action as a means to achieve it.
But Dean of Admissions John A. Blackburn said he supports racially weighted admissions decisions and would continue to do so even if the University student body disagreed with him.
"Assuming the [FAST] survey were correct, and it was done at U.Va. ... we would try to illustrate to students what [the University] would lose" if minority status ceased to be a factor in admissions, Blackburn said.
The Office of Admissions now considers race as one of many factors in admissions.
"Everyone has a right to an opinion, but we have to be conscious of the impact that affirmative action has on universities," Turner said. "If the students disagree with affirmative action, we should disagree with the students."
The FAST survey was conducted by Zogby International and questioned a random sample of 1,004 undergraduate students from schools across the country.
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