U. Wisconsin Denies Plan to Distribute Grades According to Race

Considerable outrage followed a
discovery, made by Professor W. Lee Hansen, that the University of
Wisconsin Board of Regents had approved a plan that called for the
“distribution of grades” along racial lines. Hansen wrote about the
plan at the
John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy’s blog
last week:

It calls for “proportional participation of historically
underrepresented racial-ethnic groups at all levels of an
institution, including high status special programs, high-demand
majors, and in the distribution of grades.”  

We are not told exactly what adherence to this will entail. It
appears to mean that directors of programs and departmental chairs
will have to somehow ensure that they have a mix of students with
just the right percentages of individuals who embody the various
“differences” included in the definition of diversity. I cannot see
how that is possible and even if it were, how it improves any
student’s education. 

The idea that a university would give different grades to
students for equal work in service of some vague racial equity plan
is fairly outrageous. It’s also perfectly believable. UW
administrators have no problem making admissions decisions
based upon skin color. Why should grades be any different?

The story was soon picked up by conservative college watchdogs
at The
College Fix and Campus Reform. Now the
university has responded. Chief Diversity Officer Patrick Sims said
the accusations were false; Hansen’s characterization of the plan
as a racial quota system for grading was “a gross
misinterpretation.” That’s a strong, clear denunciation of
race-based grades, right?

Unfortunately, Sims followed up this direct denial with a
whole lot of
gobbledygook [emphasis mine]:

The concept of Inclusive Excellence allows institutions to
engage diversity from a vantage point of alignment with campus
quality efforts, underscoring the educational benefits of diversity
for all students, while emphasizing it as a central value of the
institution. These laudable goals serve as the backbone for how
institutions like UW-Madison, which have a long and rich tradition
of academic rigor and excellence, can make excellence more
inclusive, hence the term Inclusive Excellence. …

This proportional and equitable distribution of grades arises
(without intervention at the time of grading) by fostering living
and learning spaces that are inclusive of historically marginalized
students so that they can do their best learning and earn better
grades; not through the “redistribution” of artificially-enhanced
grades.

Our goal is to engage diversity and inclusion with a
spirit of excellence, integrity and transparency, which is exactly
what we intend to do as we look to the implementation phase of our
diversity framework.

Having read this, I have no idea what UW’s actual plan is. Maybe
that was the point?

The full report
can be found here. As best I can tell, UW wants more diversity.
According to the report, diversity is defined as “race and
ethnicity; sex; gender, and gender identity or expression; marital
status; age; sexual orientation; country of origin; language;
disability; socio-economic status; and affiliations that are
based on cultural, political, religious, or other identities.”

In that case, clearly all people contribute to
diversity in one way or another.