Educators Oppose Race-Based Scholarship Limits

WASHINGTON —  Proposed restrictions on minority-only scholarships were bitterly denounced Wednesday by university leaders, who said the policy would threaten to prevent minority students from getting a college education.

The educators said that while such scholarships were relatively rare, they were of crucial help in attracting minority students to programs where they would otherwise have little representation.

Last week, the Education Department’s new civil rights division director, Michael L. Williams, touched off a storm of controversy by telling university officials they may not offer “race-exclusive scholarships.”

Under pressure from the White House, Williams said Tuesday that outside donors may set up college scholarship funds for minorities only. However, he continued to insist that it would violate federal law for universities themselves to offer “race-exclusive” scholarships.

On Wednesday, campus officials interviewed by telephone in various citiessaid that black and Latino students are given an edge in competing for admissions. But once admitted, students are given scholarship aid based on their financial need.

“It doesn’t matter what race you are. You get the money because you have a financial need,” said Robert Huff, director of financial aid at Stanford University.

Officials at the University of California, USC and Stanford, as well as Ivy League colleges in the East, say they follow the same basic policy. These schools compete--often vigorously--to enroll academically able black and Latino students. In doing so, they promise to help pay their tuition and expenses.

But the schools also help pay the expenses of white students who cannot afford the full cost of their education.

“If we had admitted, say, a Polish kid from a poor family and a black kid from a similarly poor family, they would both get the same basic package (of scholarship aid),” said Cliff Sjogren, USC’s dean of admissions and financial aid.

This restrictive new policy, if put into law, would affect graduate programs, such as in the sciences, where minority enrollments are quite low.

The nine campuses of the University of California gave students a total of $335 million in financial aid in the 1988-89 school year, said Kate Jeffery, assistant director of student financial aid for the UC system. Of that amount, $4.2 million--or about 1%--was spent for graduate fellowships which were reserved for “under-represented minorities”--essentially blacks and Latinos, she said.

At the University of Chicago, a private institution, undergraduate students receive aid based on their family income. But the university also awards between 30 and 40 fellowships each year for minority students only who are enrolled in its graduate and professional schools, said Allen Sanderson, associate provost.

“This has allowed us to attract minority students into these programs,” Sanderson said.

Williams had been scheduled to appear Wednesday before the House Education and Labor Committee. But without explanation, his appearance was canceled.

Staff writer David Lauter contributed to this story.