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Show Utah Chronicle '""'Daily ADMISSIONS policy under fire from Legislature, administrators fight back f outlined from they are concerned with the demographics of the classes. The U medical school has a higher percentage of whites and males in their student body than any other medical school in the western United States. Louring the admissions process, the U has fewer female applicants than anywhere else in the country, Samuelson said. But while the school is receiving criticism nationwide for having a student body domi- U pdu- experiences. Hut he also said the admissions committees have no way of knowing the race V by ticipate in the admissions process next year and said that he's bothered by the idea of students being solely judged on grades and test scores. He did very well on the MCAT, he said, but there is so much more to him, and the other students around him, than their scores. It's not until their third year, he said, that strengths and weaknesses of medical students become apparent. Samuelson said research over the past 40 years has proven that true. GPA and MCAT scores have been shown to be poor indicators of a student's potential as a "Regardless of where you apply, it's difficult. No matter who you are, it's difficult," said of the school's Candice Yee, Association of Minority Medical Students. "Did I get through because of an exception to the rule? No, I did everything the same, I took the same MCAT. To have this said takes us a few steps back from where we should be going," Yee said. "It hurts and it sucks and people want a reason why they didn't get in. There are a lot of factors." Yee was born and raised in Utah, and says she thinks the audit is tragic. "I worked extremely hard to get where I got," Yee said. "I didn't get a handout, I worked just as hard as the next guy." She says she wishes there were more minorities at the school and as a president of the minority association, she hopes to make them feel comfortable coming to the U. But she said she thinks the school is doing the best it can and disagrees with the audit. "It does a great disservice to many people in the medical school. We all worked hard. People pointing to a minority and saying it's why they got in discredits what they've done." Samuelson said he isn't sure how the issue will be resolved. "We're hopeful we'll convince people this is a fair process. We've tried to communicate our willingness to cooperate," he said. The auditors have suggested the committees focus more on GPA and MCAT scores in the admissions process. But Wirthlin and Samuelson disagree. "We focus quite a bit on academics. But GPA and MCAT scores are only two of the eight criteria we look at. It's not the only thing that needs to be taken into consideration," Wirthlin said. Student body leader Ben Mizukawa will par and males, the state them of giving preferential treatment to women and minorities. Samuelson speculates the Legislature is pressing the issue because so many qualified applicants are turned down each year and their family and friends want reasons why. Being a rather small school, only 102 applicants are admitted each year and 250 to 300 are turned away. "Virtually everyone knows someone who has been turned down," Samuelson said. "They're looking for reasons." Sour grapes may be too simple an answer, but the original audit was demanded two years ago after the grandson of former Rep. Carl was rejected by the Saunders, school, as was his father 20 years earlier. nated of applicants during the screenings. Brett Christian is one of three student-bod- y presidents in the medical school and said that the admission committees are made up of such diverse individuals, there's no way they could even subconsciously favor any applicant over another. Samuelson agreed, saying the school only selects four of the 29 committee members. More importantly, the scores are calculated in such a way that if any committee member was exercising a bias of any kind, it would be apparent and that person's scores would be excluded. The Legislature has carefully examined the current process for evidence of bias and has failed to find any, Samuelson and Wirthlin said. "They've spent more time in our files than we have," Samuelson said. The school has fully complied with every suggestion made during the last audit and even gone beyond what was suggested in some cases, Samuelson said. Hut the fact that the Legislature is still pushing them makes Samuelson think there are ulterior motives. lie said he believes the auditors keep referring to misleading ratios because they are really more concerned with the outcome of the process than the process itself. In other words, Friday, August 29, 2003 whites Legislature is accusing and Rep. Rep. Margaret Dayton, are supportive of Kathryn Bryson, the audit and neither was available for comment. Samuelson also speculates the gender and racial preference accusations are being leveled because the school values "diversity of experience" and the word "diversity" is usually understood to mean race and gender. But some students are insulted by the accusations. In a sense, the audit is saying female and minority applicants were admitted for reasons other than their qualifications. physician. The tried and proven methods require experience like volunteer service hands-o- n and physician shadowing. These attributes are hard to show in numbers, he said. Both Wirthlin and Samuelson laughed at the idea of simplifying their jobs to looking only at grades and scores. "That would be much easier," Samuelson said. But both agreed that it doesn't work. Samuelson said he hopes the audit will open people's eyes about how difficult and complicated the admissions process is. But he also fears this issue will stigmatize the students. Yee shared the sentiment. "The purpose of the association is not to create a polar divide or capitalize on minority issues. The purpose of it is to educate everyone about minority issues." She was even hesitant to talk about the issue for fear of making the minority students look like they felt targeted. "My hope is the students don't get distracted by this. They should get on with the work of being great doctors," Samuelson said. akirkchronicle.utah.edu I www.daiiyutohchrofimicie www.doilyirtQhcTronwcle. www.dailyofahchroninide www.dailyutahchroninicie www.dat!yuaHchrowwcie www.dailyutoHchronlnide www.daiiyufahcnramnide www.daiivutahchronimde hOVELINE WITH It com corn com com com wvywcfa'ijiu'idKonmiric co com com uMa Advice on Love Sex Jill Holt Arizona Daily Wildcat University of Arizona TUCSON, cam Health More! 'viaHcVoninidt. COT wwwda!lyuta'ci oninicte corr e vw,';3ilytf-K'"5'o!!dcom ww Jcii'yuf nch'enaide .com www d d'yutchtVoMiriieife com .(. dd'osCTdnintue or, con" '0Kf nz r -- S;i3t','i J1 I'll coordinators have received negative feedback from minority students who felt overlooked and in need of a more specialized source of support, especially during the hectic first weeks of i r vsEttiti $ . iff In Center. Saundra Taylor, vice president for campus life, said that Wildcat Welcome Week rnm -- Ariz. response to the complaint that the University of Arizona does not promote diversity enough on campus, the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership a has opened up Multicultural Leadership v Ja www i University of Arizona to promote diversity wwwdai'yuHchronin'Cic con Relationships & 1 .com .com 1 school. The MLC held an open house Wednesday night in an attempt to reach out to minority students. "In the past, some students 5 have felt under-represente- d, and not as welcome," Taylor www.daiiyutalichroninicle.ccm said. "With the opening of the Multicultural Leadership Center, we've made more of an effort to engage them. Now people can see we are a diverse community." Leaders of minority student organizations say they are excited and pleased about the opening of the new cen- or ARTS or visit the Kingsbury Hall e Ticket Office, the University Union Desk or order at www.arttix.orq Call 581-710- 0, 355-ART- S, -- on-lin- USSR She $cv Jlork ehncs Crossword BIG ROCK. ACROSS CLOTH title role COMPANY INC. 31 7 Hedger's answer to "Have you done your NAME BRAND CLOTHING AT WHOLESALE PRICES homework?" 15 Site of Syria's Great Mosque Better Than Department Stores! 16 event? 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"It's wonderful to see another area of the UA community CSIL is publicly showing a commitment to diversity." She is also pleased with the location of the new center. "The student union is the ju JO r choke, e.g. t 4 114 E "n it 113 !2 L 10 Sped Find u alb r39 Churchill is in TTz 0718 -- -I ji9 school 1 TTi " i 61 Broke down in 46 Nebraska county whose seat is Nebraska City ho is 60 Intensified 45 For this reason 51 Divided differently, in a way p "'.'0 fciitCTJ SA 27 heroine N l tie '3 9 Soul singer r- Tt I 49 Those, to Munoz t' I 'tie tive 59 "Swan Lake" 44 Unsubstantial stuff 53 Ending with form 29 "Scram!" e lb 16 19 39 Wind down 41 Title role for p 13 2 34 Where Ashur 50 Originally 26 Dreamcast Dl. ID. control 30 Sound system 1993 De Niro 1 No. Edited by Will Shortz ter. "I think it's a great idea," said Socorro Carrizosa, direc- center of campus, where thousands of students pass through every day," she added. Because the center is brand new, it's still in the process of finding both funding and volunteers in order to provide services. The center is part of CSIL and located on the fourth floor of the Student Union Memorial Center. Once finished, it will offer many resources including a library, computers for student use, information on working with a diverse population, space that can be reserved for club meetings and lectures on diversity, and a listing of diversity-relate- d events, according to Michelle Espino, graduate assistant for multicultural advocacy and programs. She said she is also hoping to hire student volunteers to act as peer advocates and help organize retreats. "We just want this to be a place for people to hang out and share experiences," she said. |