Deans Detail Admissions Policy

Author: Marichal Gentry and Karen Guttentag

We are writing in response to Amber Hillman's "Conservative Voice" column on affirmative action (The Middlebury Campus, Feb.26, 2003). Although we both now serve on the Dean of Student Affairs' staff here at Middlebury, we share a common background in college admissions. Between the two of us, we bring more than 10 years of experience in admissions at three highly selective institutions: Bowdoin College, the University of the South and Lafayette College. Given our familiarity with the admissions process, we find the assumptions that informed Hillman's argument to be not only disturbing but incorrect as well.
Hillman's column suggests that admitting students of color is a euphemism for admitting unqualified students, and she worries that this will necessitate the weakening of College-wide academic standards in order to accommodate these students. In actuality, the admissions committees on which we have served did not admit students unless we had complete confidence in their ability not only to survive but also to thrive at our respective institutions, and we believe Middlebury adheres to this standard as well. We are equally confident that Middlebury professors apply the same high academic standards to all students, and would find the idea of lowering these standards to ensure academic success abhorrent. Furthermore, we reject Hillman's equation of minority status with academic inferiority, and we discourage her from using generalizations when addressing issues as controversial and complex as affirmative action.
Perhaps most problematic is Hillman's apparent lack of awareness of the role that socioeconomic status plays in shaping the profiles of both majority and minority applicants. In our experience, all students are evaluated in the context of their sending environments. This means that disadvantaged students of all racial backgrounds, be they from rural towns or inner cities, are expected to have excelled in their respective environments and to have taken full advantage of all available resources. These students are often the valedictorians of severely under-resourced schools. There may be no AP courses offered, nor a curriculum that adequately prepares students to excel on the SAT, but these students tend to participate in academic enhancement programs outside of their high school when they are available. These students generally hold down jobs, often while serving as leaders in extracurricular pursuits -- albeit less often in those sports or activities that require expensive equipment and summer training camps.
Students from highly advantaged backgrounds are also judged by the extent to which they have taken advantage of the resources available to them. Thus, students from privileged environments with strong academic qualifications may possess the requisite level of intelligence, but if they have failed to fully avail themselves of additional academic or extracurricular opportunities or contribute to their community in meaningful ways, they will be passed over. Again, these standards apply to both majority and minority students.
We encourage Hillman to continue to explore the issue of affirmative action. We expect she will find that all students at Middlebury, regardless of their race, socioeconomic background or family history, are fully capable of academic success in Middlebury's most rigorous curricular offerings.

Marichal Gentry is the Associate Dean of Student Affairs

Karen Guttentag is the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs