Seaver admissions employs race-conscious system to review applicants on case-by-case basis.
By Jordan Morris
Assistant News Editor
As the debate over affirmative action in university admissions heats up across America, Pepperdine struggles to maintain an admissions policy that fulfills the diversity needs of the university while remaining consistent with its values.
In President Dr. Andrew K. Benton’s vision statement, he said Pepperdine’s values include supporting “an environment that values the dignity of the individual, meeting the needs of diverse students, faculty and staff in an ever-changing world.”
Preserving this goal at Pepperdine is especially difficult, according to Admissions Director Michael Truschke.
“Have we reached our ideal diversity goals? Probably not,” he said. “But we are conscious of this in lots of ways, and it is something we are continually striving to improve upon.”
Moreover, the admission of some minorities to Pepperdine is made more difficult by inability to afford tuition as well as lack of educational opportunities.
Associate Director of Admissions Jeff Morrow stressed the importance of diversity in the Malibu community, which is overwhelmingly Caucasian.
“Who wants to go to a school where everyone looks just like you do?” he said.
Although the university does not use the term “affirmative action,” it has employed what might be viewed as a race-conscious admissions policy, a policy in which race is one consideration among many in an applicant’s entire package. In the past 10 years, Pepperdine admissions has steadily increased the presence of minorities on campus.
According to an Admissions Office report, the percentage of minority students within Seaver enrollment, which includes Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos and Pacific Islanders, has risen from 18 percent in 1993 to 34 percent in 2002.
Truschke contended that the steady increases in ethnic groups imply a healthy diversification process while not disrupting the stability of a high-quality student body representative of those who are “a good match” for the university.
He attributed the increase in diversity in part to the goals of Benton and his predecessor, Dr. David Davenport. Although Truschke expressed the importance of diversity, he cited another priority of the Admissions Office that could potentially conflict with the promotion of diversity.
“It is also important to recognize all qualified students, regardless of their race or ethnicity,” he said.
The resulting dichotomy complicates the Pepperdine admissions process. Counselors must weigh admitting students who are well qualified for the university and ensuring that the student body contains a healthy level of diversity.
As a private institution free from any government-mandated requirements, Pepperdine has drafted its own admissions policy that lacks a specific formula, but adheres to specific rules set by an enrollment management committee.
The committee, comprised of administrators and admissions specialists, meets regularly to determine the university’s specific enrollment needs, Truschke said.
After the needs are defined, six counselors, each representing a specific region throughout the world, read all applications for enrollment. This differs from public institutions, which generally have less personalized contact with students and their high schools, Truschke said.
The office received approximately 6,500 applications for the fall of 2003, 5,000 of which will be declined.
“We have to make very tough decisions. That’s our job,” Truschke said. “And we have to leave out a lot of qualified students in the process.”
In reviewing the quality level of such students, counselors first look at an applicant’s GPA, then any SAT or ACT scores. An equal consideration is whether the applicant is “a good fit and has the right personality for the Pepperdine environment,” Truschke said.
“But we assume you’re a strong student if you’re even applying to Pepperdine,” he added. “It is essential that students have a strong academic performance on a day-to-day basis.”
He told the story of a specific applicant with a 1500 SAT score and close to a 4.0 GPA, but showed a negative attitude toward the university.
“He was flippant about coming here, and he showed no personal connection to the type of university Pepperdine strives to be,” Truschke said.
As a result, the prospective student was not admitted to the university.
“We want to admit students who will have an impact on the university and will be impacted by their experience at the university,” he continued. “It needs to work both ways.”
But to what extent does Pepperdine practice race-consciousness in its admissions process?
“Do we affirm certain groups? Yes, we do,” Truschke said. “Diversity is an issue we’re always aware of, but so are many other issues that are important in forming a new class at Seaver College, like, for example, the qualities musicians, athletes and many others may bring to the university.”
Dean of Admission and Enrollment Management Dr. Paul Long put the Admissions Office’s stance on diversity in his own words.
“Our admission strategy has been to try to enroll as many academically and personally qualified students from ethnically diverse backgrounds as we can,” he said. “We have been deliberate and focused in our efforts, but have not established ‘Minority Recruitment Staff Positions,’ or formal ‘Minority Recruitment Programs,’ as some institutions have done to accomplish this goal.
“We have reached out to students from all backgrounds, tried to foster a campus environment that supports and welcomes students from all backgrounds … and have financially assisted financially eligible, ethnically diverse students, as we do for all students who are eligible for assistance, and who best fit our strategic plan goals,” he continued.
The plan calls for Seaver College “to enroll a diverse student body, with students from many backgrounds and heritages, in an effort to create a rich and diverse educational community.”
Morrow explained that the office seeks out various minority groups through the coordination of information sessions and college fairs in many different parts of the country, which contribute to the affirmation of underrepresented groups.
“We seek to reach the widest, most diverse audience during our recruitment process,” he said. “This has historically been within the Los Angeles basin. Historically, these are the students that most commonly come to Pepperdine.”
Long, who has been with the Admissions Office for the past 20 years, commented on the accomplishments of the admissions strategy.
“Part of our success (in increasing diversity in campus admissions) … is that we now have the reputation, the resources and the selectivity to more deliberately affect the makeup of our class,” he said. “This allows us to realize our stated goals and objectives, one of which is to diversify our campus community.”
This policy faces controversy, however, when the university must choose between quality and diversity. For example, does a minority student ever take precedence over an essentially equally qualified Caucasian student with a slightly higher GPA?
“Very rarely does one individual characteristic determine whether a student is admitted to the university,” Truschke said. “We’re looking across the board at the student’s total package.”
He would not specifically address the process that would ensue in that particular situation, but he emphasized that the Admissions Office must contend with a number of different variables that compromise the university’s flexible admissions policy.
Aside from trying to ensure diversity, admissions counselors must consider such issues as the male-female ratio on campus, the recruitment of athletes and the Church of Christ presence on campus.
Morrow agreed that the Admissions Office faces serious challenges in the area of diversity.
“You can’t ever be satisfied in the admissions office,” he said. “We hope to maintain and build upon these numbers in the coming years.”
Dean of Seaver College Dr. David Baird stressed the importance of continuing the tradition of diversity at the university.
“The students and faculty of Seaver College can’t understand the full dimension of God’s creation if the college limits its population to a single group,” he said. “A diverse population also helps prepare students to participate more fully in the democratic processes of local, state and national government.
It also enriches our life together socially, permitting all of us to appreciate more fully that difference strengthens rather than weakens society.”
Students, however, were overall skeptical of how successful the diversification process has been at Seaver College.
“Pepperdine is only somewhat ethnically diverse,” Courtney Benvenuto, a junior sociology major, said. “But it is a dilemma that all good schools go through.”
Freshman Aesha Ohelo agreed.
“The vast majority of the student body is Caucasian,” she said. “Minorities are in a sense outweighed by non-minority students.”
Associate Dean of Student Activities Tabatha Jones still expressed optimism with the direction of the Admission Office’s policies.
“We have a way to go, with enhancements and improvements to focus upon,” she said. “But it is important to know that the university hopes to achieve in the end a student body that is culturally diverse.”
April 03, 2003