Tougher admission rules criticized

Jennifer Knight

Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2001 | 9:02 a.m.

President Bush, who has bragged about being a C student, would have been shut out of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas under new admission standards being proposed.

On the other hand, professors are finding some A students entering the university unable to handle college-level work.

Those observations were made Tuesday night at a Board of Regents forum to hear public comment on a plan to raise the minimum grade point average needed to enter the state's two universities from 2.5 to 3.0 by 2005.

Regents on the 11-member panel listened to 2 1/2 hours of testimony from the 120 teachers, students and minority activists who attended.

Tuesday's meeting at UNLV was the second opportunity for the public to speak on the issue. The first forum, held in North Las Vegas on Nov. 15, was not as well attended.

State Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, adamantly opposed the new set of standards, drawing on the president's experience.

"I hate to use President Bush as an example, but our president lauds the fact that he was a C student. But even he would not be able to get into the University of Nevada, Las Vegas if he applied under these particular standards."

One instructor countered that many of the students who come to his class are not up to the work, no matter their grades.

"We have a very dramatic grade inflation," Bernardo Arriaza, a UNLV associate professor of anthropology, said. "We have a lot of students who come into the class with A's, and when they start doing the work, you realize that is not really the case."

Overall, as the debate unfolded, educators were largely in favor of increasing standards and minority advocates were against it.

The reason for the proposal is that universities are not getting academically prepared students under the current admissions standards, according to the policy's backers. The number of students taking remedial classes is too high. The success rate for those who stay in college is too low.

"I believe success is a collision of two things: preparation and opportunity," said Michael Coray, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. "That's why I think there is a very strong link between preparation in high school and success as an undergraduate."

Critics of the policy agreed that preparation in high school is key to any change in admission standards, but said preparation has to come first.

"I think this is a mistake," Anika Johnson Cunningham said. "I think it is criminal to raise the grade point average without raising the other stakes (i.e., better K-12 education) along with it."

David Griego of the Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce said it is hard for many people to understand the barriers that Hispanics and other minorities face when trying to get into college.

One of the last people to speak was a chemistry professor at UNLV who characterized the board's decision on Dec. 6 as one that will plot the university's path.

"It's important not which door they enter but which one they leave," said Boyd Earl. "We want them to leave the door with degree marked on it, not the one marked drop out."