Saying they would not stand up to a possible U.S. Supreme Court
ruling against affirmative action, MIT and Princeton have dropped
summer programs for minority students.
The two universities announced last week they would no longer
base admittance to their programs solely on race or ethnicity,
fearing potential preferential treatment lawsuits that could follow
if the U.S. Supreme Court rules affirmative action is
unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, a UCLA summer program, designed to give additional
math and science training to underrepresented students pursuing
engineering, will not be affected.
Program participants enroll in classes taught by graduate
students, aimed at developing skills in individuals who have
already shown exceptional academic capability.
SMARTS, which stands for Science, Mathematics Achievement and
Research Technology for Students is run through the Henry Samueli
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The program targets students from 25 schools in the Los Angeles
Unified School District, ranging from Crenshaw High School to
Palisades High School, usually focusing on students from poor test
performing schools, according to Rick Ainsworth, director of the
Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity.
“They get the short end of the educational stick,
particularly in math,” Ainsworth said.
MIT’s minority-only summer program shared a lot of
similarities with SMARTS. Both programs were designed to build math
and science skills in high school students, enrolled about 60
students, and were offered over the summer.
However, MIT admitted only black, Latino and American Indian
students to its summer program. While SMARTS targets students from
specific schools, enrollment is not determined by ethnicity.
SMARTS participants typically come from demographic groups
underrepresented in the fields of math and engineering,
particularly Latinos and blacks. The program, however, is not
exclusive to members of these groups, Ainsworth said.
Ainsworth also explained that the SMARTS program is free of the
potential lawsuits feared by MIT and Princeton since the program
has already been operating under legislation that prohibits
racially exclusive educational programs.
Prop 209, which was passed in California Nov. 1997, prohibits
preferential or discriminatory treatment of individuals on the
basis of race.
Fearing legal backlashes aimed at its minority preferential
educational programs, MIT will add extra criteria to summer
programs such as whether the student attends a high school that
sends few students to college, said Robert Redwine, dean for
MIT’s undergraduate education.
This could also be understood as accepting students from poor
performing schools, a measure the SMARTS program initiated several
years ago.
John Donald, a math doctoral student, taught geometry and
algebra for students attending SMARTS in the summer of 2001. He
said the program had the intensity level of college, and helped to
prepare high school students for the demands of a university.
Shanay Spencer attended SMARTS for three years and then later
attended UCLA and graduated with a degree in materials
engineering.
Spencer said the program was beneficial because it took students
beyond what they would regularly learn in high school.
“They are not poor performing students, but their schools
don’t have all the resources a private school would
have,” Donald said.
With reports from Daily Bruin wire services.