http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=676&e=5&u=/usatoday/20040324/ts_usatoday/collegeadmissionsexaminedThree national groups critical of affirmative action are invoking state open-records laws to demand that public universities disclose whether and how race and ethnicity are considered in admissions decisions.
Organizers of the effort said Tuesday that they have contacted presidents of selective public universities in 20 states asking for detailed admissions information, such as the extent to which an applicant's race or ethnicity factors into decisions, and whether targets or quotas have been set for certain racial or ethnic groups. They plan to extend the inquiries to universities in most, if not all, states.
One goal is to ensure that universities comply with a Supreme Court ruling last summer in a case involving the University of Michigan, says Bradford Wilson, executive director of the National Association of Scholars in Princeton, N.J., whose members are making the requests. Also, he says, taxpayers "have every right to know precisely how applicants are being treated" by public institutions.
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