It’s been a week since winter break ended and everyone is back to the grind!
BIGGEST COLLEGE-RELATED NEWS OF THE WEEK
GWU SETTLES COVID-19 LAWSUIT FOR $5.4 MILLION
This week, a district judge in Washington, DC approved a settlement between The George Washington University and the four students who filed suit against the university. The students alleged that GW broke their enrollment contract following the switch to online education as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While similar lawsuits have been filed against colleges and universities across the country, many have been dismissed only to be reversed on appeal. Other universities have reached similar settlements and/or provided refunds of room, board, and fees to students impacted by the change to distance learning.
FEDERAL JUDGE RULES WEST POINT CAN CONTINUE TO CONSIDER RACE IN ADMISSIONS
Students for Fair Admissions, the group whose lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina led to the Supreme Court’s ruling about race in college admission decisions last June, filed a petition with the court in September to prohibit the U.S. Military Academy at West Point from considering race in its admissions decisions. The Supreme Court specifically excluded U.S. service academies from the June ruling. The U.S. District Court judge in New York wrote in his opinion that “a full factual record is vital to answering this critical question” and that an injunction at this time would require West Point to change their admissions process in the middle of a cycle. A federal judge in Maryland issued a similar ruling in mid-December allowing the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis to continue to include race in making admission decisions. However, this is likely not the end of the court’s involvement in either case, as they now both continue to move forward through the court process.
MIT PRESIDENT SENDS MESSAGE TO COMMUNITY WITH PLANS TO ADDRESS DISCORD ON CAMPUS
Sally Kornbluth, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of three university presidents to testify before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, sent a message to the MIT community that included four steps to address what she has identified as “challenges” in the community that need to be “solved.” Claudine Gay, the former president of Harvard University, and Elizabeth Magill, the former president of the University of Pennsylvania, each faced significant backlash and criticism following their appearance before the committee and have since resigned their positions. Dr. Kornbluth not only outlined these four steps in her letter, but also delineated current ongoing initiatives in which the community can participate as they work to rebuild trust, educate community members about antisemitism and Islamophobia, and “address conflict on [their] campus.”
UCLA PURCHASES NEARBY MALL TO CONVERT INTO SCIENCE INNOVATION CENTER
UCLA has purchased a closed indoor mall two miles from its campus, which will be transformed into a biomedical research facility to be named the UCLA Research Park. The site “will house two multidisciplinary centers focusing on immunology and immunotherapy as well as quantum science and engineering.” With little room to expand its Los Angeles campus, this is UCLA’s third acquisition in the past two years – the first was the purchase of “the Art Deco-style Trust Building”, which was renamed UCLA Downtown; the second was the purchase of Marymount California University’s 24.5-acre campus and their 11-acre residential campus in San Pedro, approximately 30 miles from UCLA’s main campus.
UC BERKELEY TAKES STEPS OVERNIGHT TO BUILD WALL AROUND THE PEOPLE’S PARK
In 2018, UC Berkeley developed plans to build a large residence hall on a property known as the People’s Park, which was taken by the university through eminent domain in 1969 and has been held up in litigation ever since, after city of Berkeley residents began occupying it in 1970. In the early morning hours of January 4, however, law enforcement officers from the UC and Cal State police, the California Highway Patrol, and other area sheriffs’ departments helped UC Berkeley clear the park of protesters and erected a fence made of double stacked cargo containers. However, the university cannot begin construction of the 1,100-bed residence hall until the California Supreme Court determines that UC Berkeley has completed the requisite environmental reviews.
RECENT STUDIES SHOW ADMISSIONS SCATTERGRAMS DISCOURAGE STUDENTS FROM APPLYING TO MOST SELECTIVE COLLEGES
Many high schools use college counseling programs, such as Naviance, Scoir, and MaiaLearning, that include the use of scattergrams. These are visual representations which plot application outcomes on graphs with GPA and standardized test scores of past applicants from that high school, without sharing identifying information of the applicants. Two recent studies contend that students who view the scattergrams are discouraged from applying to the “most competitive schools, such as Harvard and Stanford.” At the same time, after viewing scattergrams, students with lower GPAs and/or standardized test scores are more likely to apply to four-year colleges and are encouraged by the statistics to aim higher than they had previously believed possible.
BEST ARTICLES OF THE WEEK
For a number of years, college application statistics, undergraduate enrollment numbers, and six-year graduation rates have indicated a decline in male enrollment and completion of undergraduate degrees is declining. Inside Higher Ed published an opinion piece by Joe Henry, Dean of Students at King’s University College at Western University in Ontario, Canada, in which Henry shines a light on this gender gap in both Canadian and US colleges and universities. He calls on professionals in both admissions and student affairs to address this gap, starting with understanding the data available and recommending that better data should be collected in order to provide support and interventions to increase student success.
The New York Times article, The Misguided War on the SAT, brings to light recent research into the value of SAT scores, and more generally standardized test scores including the SAT and ACT, and their ability to predict student success in college and beyond. While many highly selective colleges and universities have instituted test-optional policies, the research indicates that test scores are better predictors than high school grade point averages. In their study of “Ivy Plus” colleges, the authors of the study looked at multiple measures of student success, including whether students were accepted into “elite graduate schools” or were “working at a prestigious firm.”
In a related article, The New York Times explained the “science of reading” movement that is at the heart of reforming how reading is taught in K-12 education and how colleges and universities are preparing educators. One of the hopes of supporters of the movement is that this redesign will raise the reading test scores of students across the country. In 2022 the Virginia General Assembly passed the Virginia Literacy Act requiring all Virginia public schools to align their reading curriculum with science-based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction.
While the debate about the efficacy of using standardized test scores in college admissions continues, students and admissions professionals alike are grappling with understanding and adapting to the Supreme Court’s ruling in late June 2023 regarding the use of race in college admissions. In Friday’s “The Daily” podcast from The New York Times, producer Jessica Cheung interviews those on both sides of the admissions process, specifically focusing on students’ disclosure of their racial identity through their activities and essays. In the 237-page decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote a key passage that Ms. Cheung summarized as meaning “the student must be treated on the basis of his or her experiences as an individual, not on the basis of race.” As she researched the impact on the Class of 2024, she noticed a trend of new supplemental essays which include prompts that ask applicants to “talk about lived experiences and how you could uniquely contribute to their campus.” In our blogs, Questions on the Affirmative Action Decision – Answered! and Weekly Update: August 7, we wrote about these exact changes and their impact on our students.
Finally, The Learning Network asked students and educators to answer the following question in any medium they chose: “What can you show or tell us that might help explain what it’s like to be an educator or a student in a secondary school right now?” In the article “What High School Is Like in 2023: The Winners of Our Multimedia Challenge,” The New York Times shares the responses of the 25 winners. From essays and poems to videos, pictures, and even interactive media, see their submissions and artists’ statements as they attempt to explain high school in 2023.
OFFICE HAPPENINGS
It’s one of our busiest times of year - course selection season! We’re helping students all the way from middle school through junior year in high school choose the right classes to take next year. There are so many nuances and implications to consider, from keeping doors open in the future, demonstrating interest in a particular field, and showing the desire to challenge oneself. Check out some of our published guidance on middle school course selection and high school course selection, or book a one-time strategy session for targeted strategic advice based on your student’s interests and background.
As we approach mid-January and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, January 15, we remind you that our office will be closed for the day. Enjoy your long weekend!
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