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Ignore SATs and Boost Student Diversity
By Yoji Cole
July 18, 2007
Ignore SATs and Boost Student Diversity
With university affirmative-action policies coming under attack in recent years, school admissions officers looking for ways to create a racially diverse student body should decrease the emphasis on the SAT, say two scientists. In the Aug. 2007 issue of the American Sociological Review (ASR), sociologists Sigal Alon of Tel Aviv University and Marta Tienda of Princeton University show that if universities place more weight on performance-based measures of merit, such as high-school class rank, they can achieve the goal of enrolling a diverse student body while not compromising excellence. When conducting their study, Alon and Tienda examined Texas's "top-10 percent" law, in which public universities in Texas ignored test scores in admissions for the top 10 percent of each graduating high-school class. Alon and Tienda found that by ignoring SAT scores, elite schools can broaden access to selective institutions, achieving results comparable to affirmative-action policies. Read more. (See also: Why the SATs Are Failing America)
Oprah to Raise Money for Obama
Oprah Winfrey plans to hold a Sept. 8 fundraiser for Democratic hopeful Barack Obama at her palatial estate near Santa Barbara, Calif., according to a campaign spokesperson. Winfrey is a well-known fan of Obama, calling him "my favorite guy" and "my choice" on CNN's "Larry King Live" last year before he announced he would run for president. Obama already enjoys the support of Hollywood moguls David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Winfrey's fundraiser is another chance for him to tap into money in California, which was his top donor state from April through June, with a total take of $4.2 million. Read more.
Scientists on Verge of Producing Human Stem Cells Without Embryos
Japan's leading genetics researcher, Shinya Yamanaka, says it could be only "a matter of months" before he produces an "ethical" human stem cell without using a human embryo. If the research develops in the way he hopes, the ethical problems that have swirled around embryonic stem-cell research would disappear. "It is hard to predict how the science will develop, but I think we could produce a basic prototype-induced stem cell made from a human adult cell within six months to a year," he said. "Within two to three years we may be able to create a stem cell that is indistinguishable from one taken from an embryo." Read more.
'Whites Only' Faucets Were a Lesson
Students at Hot Springs High School in New Mexico launched a project last year for an English class focusing on social justice, in which the students placed signs reading "Whites Only" and "People of Color" above water faucets. The students hoped to secretly monitor the reactions of people when they viewed the signs. Other students tore down the signs within minutes and one student's parents filed complaints with both federal and state education departments. While the school district will not face federal sanctions, it will have to implement procedures for addressing racial-harassment claims and offer lessons about racial harassment to students and staff, said the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. Read more.
Skilled Workers Win Reversal of Decision on Green Cards
Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Tuesday that public opinion had caused a reversal of an earlier government decision that prevented thousands of legal immigrants from obtaining work-based permanent visas. On June 12, the State Department encouraged highly skilled immigrants in the United States on temporary employment visas to apply for permanent employment visas, or green cards, to become permanent residents. But while the department said the visas would be available starting July 2,it later announced that all available employment-based visas had been distributed for the year. Read more. For a detailed look at the business case for immigration, read the upcoming September issue of DiversityInc magazine.
Black College Students Wanted in the Lab
Since becoming the first black president of Indiana University four years ago, Adam W. Herbert has set about trying to revive graduate-level scientific study among black students, since science is a field in which black students are woefully underrepresented. Herbert's efforts resulted in the program STEM, which provides black science students with research experience at Indiana-Purdue University and at Indiana's main campus. The two universities get an inside track on recruiting talented blacks for graduate school. "Historically black schools are a very important part of the educational delivery system of America, and we want to help them produce more graduates in the STEM areas," said Herbert. Read more.
Sting Gets Stung by Sex-Discrimination Case
A London employment tribunal ordered platinum-selling singer Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, to pay a former chef $51,000 in compensation after she won a sex-discrimination claim against them. Jane Martin, 41, won her claim in May. She said she was fired after she became pregnant. She said Styler grew unhappy with her after she became pregnant in 2005, making her work long hours and growing angry when she took time off work because of illness, told by Freeps.com.
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