From the President: Race & College Admissions
Preparing for a Supreme Court Decision
Earlier this spring I was joined by Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez ’96, vice president and dean of admission and financial aid, to discuss the then still-pending ruling by the Supreme Court on Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University, two cases which are expected to have broad, adverse impact on the future of recruiting students from under-represented communities.
While our conversation took place before knowing the court’s decision, we were able to discuss important elements of Wesleyan’s values and its approach to a holistic application process.
Read a transcript of the conversation:
Michael Roth
Hello, my name is Michael Roth, I’m the president of Wesleyan University. And joining me here today is the dean of admission and financial aid and vice president for those areas of the University, Dean Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez. And we’re going to talk about the Supreme Court decision, which is yet to be announced, but it’s much on our minds because as anyone listening to this podcast will know, Wesleyan for a long time, has striven to admit a class of students that will lead to a very diverse learning environment on campus. And so, I thought I would talk with Amin today about how we’re thinking about the way things are now and how we’re thinking things might change and how we might react to those changes, going forward. Maybe we start with a conversation about the diversity we have on campus now and where we are already trying to make improvements.
Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez
Sure. Well, thank you, President Roth. And for those who know Wesleyan and know us well, know that diversity, very broadly defined, has always been an important aspect of the experience in the education that we offer. And so we’re very fortunate to have a dynamically diverse campus community, and that includes racial and ethnic diversity, as well as socioeconomic and religious and geographic, et cetera. The cases before the court are really going to challenge our ability to not only recruit, but also select and enroll a racially diverse class and one of the challenges is around this idea that this notion of race being a factor, that it can be reductive of someone’s experience, rather than a part of a much larger aspect of their identity.
And so, until we know where the court and how the court is going to rule, it’s going to be difficult to think about how we replicate or even maintain the diversity that we’ve worked hard to achieve on this campus, because it could completely undermine—certainly not going to amplify—our ability to do the work that we do. But I’m encouraged that our commitment to our mission, to our values is not going to compromise. We’ll certainly do what needs to be done, of course, to comply with whatever ruling comes, but we’re in a good place as it relates to having a student body that is engaged in all the ways that matter and that is attentive to inclusion and belonging and contributing positively to the larger community.
Michael Roth
Maybe you could say a little bit about what we’re doing now to encourage a racially and ethnically diverse student body. What are some of the things we already do?
Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez
Sure. For a long time, we’ve hosted students on campus as part of their recruiting process during our open houses with overnights. The pandemic has challenged our ability to have students overnight on campus, of course, but we continue to reach out to Title I schools to work with community-based organizations [CBOs] that we know have large populations of students of color and underrepresented first generation students. In fact, we’re historically one of the largest producers of graduates that belong to A Better Chance or Prep for Prep in New York City. I was an Oliver Scholar as an undergraduate here, back in the early ’90s.
And so that reputation of Wesleyan being a place that invites students of various backgrounds, including FGLI (first-generation, low-income) and racial ethnic minority students, has been there for quite some time. So we’ll continue to do the outreach to work with CBOs to leverage our alumni presence in different parts of the country, to open up our campus indoors for programs that include WesExplore, where we fly underrepresented students to campus to stay the night with students as their hosts, to visit classes, to engage with faculty. Really do all we can to make this as fully an engaging an experience for prospective students who we hope will become applicants.
Michael Roth
Yes. I’d like to spend a little more time on the community-based organizations or CBOs. I think Wesleyan has, as you noted, an extraordinary track record of enrolling students who come through those organizations. And I think they arrive at Wesleyan, really in many ways, primed for success. I mean, there are of course, challenges. But how has it come to be that Wesleyan has such a good track record with Prep for Prep and A Better Chance and other community-based organizations?
Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez
Yeah, I think a lot has to do with the old school recruiting of those who went before you, who really promoted the positive experience that they had, and just showed very warm, welcoming ways to connect with students. Word of mouth went to great distance. “Can I see myself there?” And then when students visit, to feel seen and valued from the point of application through the decision-making process. So there’s a long history and tradition of that connection and we certainly have had the benefit of leadership in this space, longstanding. Give a nod here to Cliff Thornton, who very recently retired. Or not so recently, a couple of years ago, who for decades, had been the face of Wes amongst these CBOs because he took a very personal and professional interest in opening doors and making sure that those students had good experiences when they got here.
Michael Roth
Yeah. And I think one of the things I know we’ve talked about is going forward, if the Supreme Court does not allow us to ask for the race identity in an application, we do hope very strongly that we’ll still be able to work with community-based organizations that have a history in certain communities, because we have found when groups of those students come to visit us from New York or from Houston or from wherever, that they’re visiting us and several other schools, and they get to see why Wesleyan might be a place where they can thrive. Critics of practices of affirmative action that the country has allowed until now, point out that some groups suffer from those practices.
The most egregious examples in this case currently before the court have to do with Asian American students and Asian American applicants. And I’m sure you have the same reaction or similar reaction to when I read some of the memos that are in the discovery phase; I cringe because it does seem as if Asian American students in particular are being stereotyped by some schools in ways that make it easier to reject them. And of course, this is just some memos in a very truncated form that one sees in the press. But tell me a little bit about that. How has Wesleyan specifically looked to recruit Asian American students and others who might not fit the traditional mode of affirmative action beneficiaries?
Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez
Sure. And I think one of the things you mentioned is the affirmative action conversation, particularly around the checking of the box, rather than an individualized holistic review. So we continue to be supportive of diversity in all the ways that I described at the outset. And that means by looking not just at the box where students self-identify, but also at their essays, at interviews, at letters of recommendation and their total lived experience, and being prepared to contextualize that. It’s a triangulation of all the parts of these students’ applications, identities, and experiences.
Outreach has largely to do with geography. We know where there are concentrations of underrepresented students or low-income students through things like Title I schools, making use of census data, understanding just through traditional travel. I mean, one of the things the pandemic did was eliminate the opportunity for admission deans to travel the country and see students in their contexts, in their high schools, in their neighborhoods. But just staying open and not having the box or the simple checking of that box reduce a student to an experience that we might project onto them, but looking at how they share of themselves in the entire application.
And so, that allows us to be nimble and open, but we don’t, right now, aggressively recruit or specifically recruit any racial ethnic demographic. We’re looking at all students with the idea that everyone has the potential to contribute, to benefit, and to engage with this community. Now, if it’s the case that they’re underrepresented, then of course, that background coupled with some of the obstacles that they may have had to overcome to reach the level of competitiveness or the opportunities that they’re going to leverage, we’re mindful of that. And we’re very well represented, as you know, with students proportionally, so compositional diversity, we have more students of Asian, Asian American descent than we do of African American or Latino, LatinX background.
Michael Roth
Yes. And I think that I want to pick up on the geographical diversity that you mentioned. And I think this is in the last 10, 15 years, this has become an important priority for the University, so that we push back against the American tendency to go to school close to where you live. That tendency is less strong in some of the big cities that we typically draw students from, like Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York. But tell us a little bit about the geographical diversity of Wesleyan students today. I mean, do we have students from Texas or Alabama? Tell me a little bit about that.
Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez
We’re very well represented. I mean, I think there are pockets of the country where we could be certainly more visible and we’d like to prioritize, moving forward, because we know that population growth and perspective will be valuable. But one of the things that’s most contributed to our geographic reach is a strong partnership with QuestBridge, that coincides with your tenure. In fact, we’re just going on 15, 16 years in partnership.
For those who don’t know, QuestBridge is a national nonprofit that Wes is a member of, along with 47 other highly selective institutions, that allows us to recruit across the country by collaborating with peers, extending our reach. Because the power of numbers for students in rural Iowa or in Alaska and other places that may not be thinking about the Northeast in quite the same way as students in our backyard, to know that there are opportunities through consortium to be exposed to liberal arts colleges is powerful.
So we travel extensively when we can, domestically and internationally. We’ve identified markets where we know there are populations that we could do a better job of including. But we do have students from across the country and overseas, nearly 50 states represented, well over 60 countries in the student body. But certainly the southwest. And we’re following very closely, the demographic cliff, what’s happening in our backyard. But looking at Florida and Texas and California, we have good representation from the west coast. We could do more in the southeast and southwest, for sure.
Michael Roth
Yeah, I’ve enjoyed my trips with admissions and with advancement teams into, especially in Texas where I know we have had strong groups of impressive students. And around the world, we continue to draw a significant number of applications from all over the world. But I think if someone’s listening to us have this conversation, they’re probably banging on the table and saying, “Well, why don’t you guys talk about the biggest obstacle to having a diverse student body, which is price? It’s so expensive to go to Wesleyan or schools like Wesleyan.” How do you communicate to our potential applicants that, if they have financial aid and we do admit them, that we meet that aid? How does that go?
Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez
Yeah, I try to encourage them to not let the sticker price shock them, which is very difficult, given our price point. But our price point is no different than most highly selective colleges and universities. I think just what you said, is that our commitment to meet the full demonstrated need of all those students and seeing the number of students who have graduated Pell (eligible), and other students of similar background who have come through here and been successful in terms of their graduation employment and outcomes. But really, highlighting some of the things that we’ve done to make Wes in the most recent years, more affordable.
Raising the no-loan threshold to $120,000 so families that are at that income level with typical assets won’t have to worry about being in debt. Providing health insurance grants to our highest needs students, doing all the things that we know are likely to impact their student experience and a family’s affordability. And so, having a socioeconomically diverse campus community is really important, and allowing them to hear and see students like themselves on this campus is critical. It’s one thing to tell them, but it’s another thing to show them by virtue of their experience and interactions.
Michael Roth
Yeah. I think it’s been fascinating to watch how the economic inequalities in this country and around the world have impacted admissions, that there are people who aren’t shocked by the sticker price. And then there are people who actually did pay almost nothing to come, for whom Wesleyan would be a less expensive alternative than the local state college down the road. And so I think giving students a sense, just as you say, that they would feel at home here and that once they’re here, that their economic situation won’t be an obstacle to success. And I know you’ve been a strong advocate for making sure people have the technology they need, that they have stipends for the books they might need, and to participate fully in the undergraduate experience we offer. That includes going abroad, isn’t that right?
Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez
Yes, it does. I was an undergrad myself and this demonstrates our institutional commitment this many years. I was one of the first students that carried my financial aid with me to Egypt. And at that time and even to this day, any student on financial aid can have their financial aid follow them on any study abroad program that they wish to participate on. And very recently, through the generosity of one of our board members who contributed significant funds so that if there’s a gap, if an international program is more expensive than the Wesleyan program, we will cover that cost so they wouldn’t have to worry about that. So now every study abroad program is equally accessible to any student, regardless of whether they’re on significant aid or minimal aid, will make no difference, they’ll have full benefit.
We can’t control what the Supreme Court does, but we can articulate our shared commitment to continue to give students, regardless of their background, the opportunity to thrive and to excel.
President Roth
Michael Roth
Yeah, we’ve worked hard to create the equality of opportunity once students are on campus. We can’t control what the Supreme Court does, of course, but we can articulate our shared commitment to continue to do that, to give students, regardless of their background, when they’re here, the opportunity to thrive and to excel.
As we wait for the Supreme Court decision, what’s your team doing to be prepared?
Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez
Sure. Well, we’ve just completed our selection of the Class of ’27 and have looked at that group as perhaps the last group to have benefited from the current policy of allowing race to be one of many factors. We’ve explored all kinds of different scenarios, consulted with colleagues across campus to think about where the potential challenges will be, depending on the various rulings. And that of course, is the greatest challenge, is not knowing. But being engaged in conversation with colleagues across campus about what this might look like and how our efforts might be undermined, how prepared we are to pivot, to respond, to hold true to our values, but to do it in a way that’s responsible.
And looking at all the various levers that are available to us. As I mentioned earlier, things like the Title I schools and demographic data, looking at community-based organizations, alumni, current students to do outreach. And so, a lot of time and energy has been spent on my team, selecting this group and preparing to pivot later this spring and early summer and we’ll continue those conversations.
Michael Roth
And I think something you said that really resonates with me is that we have to strive to do a better job with the students currently on campus from underrepresented groups. If we do a better job, they will talk to prospective students and people will realize that we hope Wesleyan will be a great home, a great launching pad for students from all backgrounds. And if we can keep communicating that, I think we’ll continue to create a diverse and dynamic student culture on campus.
Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez
Yeah, and that’s good to hear, President Roth. It reminds me that so much of the conversations are focused on prospective students and applicants who will be going through this process in a very new iteration of admission. But current students have wrestled with some of these issues of identity and belonging, and it’s important for them to know, particularly our students, that they’re not the product of having checked the box, that they were considered fully for their authentic selves and they were seen in their applications in this holistic review process.
We don’t want any of our current students to continue to contend, perhaps with things like imposter syndrome or feeling reduced, feeling lesser than, when in fact, no, they are more than deserving of the opportunity and contribute significantly. I know that that’s something that’s on my mind, because it really does lend itself to the ability for our current students to be resources for future generations of students and really be engaged and activated in positive ways.
Michael Roth
Well, thank you very much. Always a pleasure to talk with you.
Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez
Likewise, thank you.
This story was recorded by Dennis Hohne and produced and edited by James Sims.