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Page 12 The Skanner Black History Edition - February 24, 2016 Black History Should High School Punishments Go On College Applications? By Carolyn Thompson Associated Press T hey are basic yes- no questions that ask whether a col- lege applicant ever got into trouble in high school. Yet they’re any- thing but simple, say some who want run-ins at school or with the law taken out of the college admissions equation. Advocates, school dis- tricts and even some colleges share concerns about youthful mistakes haunting students into adulthood, especially mi- nority students, who fed- eral statistics show are suspended and arrested at disproportionately higher rates than their white peers. The Lawyers’ Commit- tee for Civil Rights Un- der Law last week called for the removal of disci- pline questions from the “ issued similar appeals, saying that while most colleges collect the infor- mation, few have formal policies guiding its use. “So long as racial dis- parities persist at every stage of our criminal justice system, we fully expect that these kinds of questions will un- fairly deny educational opportunity to, or have a chilling effect on, Afri- can Americans and other minority groups,” wrote Kristen Clarke, Lawyers’ Committee president and executive director, in a letter to the Common Application. At a time of heightened vigilance against campus shootings and terrorism, admissions officials say questions about student discipline are seen as a necessary piece of a much larger picture. “College admissions is trying to take educated AP PHOTO/MARY ALTAFFER Groups say questions about discipline unfairly single out African American applicants In this Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016 photo, Miaija Jawara poses for a portrait in New York. Jawara’s approach when it came time to disclose on a college application a one-day suspension for a schoolyard fight that happened in 10th grade was to describe using the experience to work toward in-school restorative justice in her New York City school. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2016, is calling for the removal of discipline questions from the Common Application used by more than 620 colleges and universities. lege and a board member of the National Associa- tion for College Admis- sions Counseling. “After the Virginia Tech are going to come along with it,” he said. At Marist, the ques- tions have turned up everything from private So long as racial disparities persist at every stage of our crimi- nal justice system, we fully expect that these kinds of questions will unfairly deny educational opportunity to, or have a chilling effect on, African Americans and other minority groups Common Application used by more than 620 colleges and universi- ties. The Center for Com- munity Alternatives in Syracuse, New York, has risks, whether it be aca- demic risks or students that have had indiscre- tions in their past,” said Kent Rinehart, dean of admission at Marist Col- shooting, colleges really started to look closely at the responsibility the admissions office had in seeing whether there’s some warning signs that school students sus- pended for not pulling up their socks to cheat- ing, cyberbullying and felony convictions. All, Rinehart said, are taken in context. The Common Appli- cation, completed by 860,000 students last year, added the discipline questions at the request of participating univer- sities in 2006-07. Colleges using their own applica- tions often include them, as well. New York Universi- ty in January asked the Common Application to review whether the queries do anything to make campuses safer or discourage minority ap- plicants. The university, which uses the applica- tion, this year began ig- noring whether the crim- inal conviction box had been checked until after an initial screening. The Common App is looking at the issues, said Aba Blankson, se- nior director at the not- for-profit group. In the meantime, applicants who check yes have room to elaborate. “A student can say in ninth grade, I was ex- pelled or suspended and because of that incident, the alcohol thing I did, I became interested in (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) or became a vol- unteer,” she said. That was high school senior Miaija Jawara’s approach when it came time to disclose a one-day suspension for a school- yard fight that happened in 10th grade. She de- scribed using the expe- rience to work toward in-school restorative jus- tice in her New York City school. Even so, “It made me feel like I’m lessening my chances of being admit- ted,” said Jawara. “It was, like, two years ago. I’m definitely not the same person I was then,” she said. “So I think they shouldn’t judge me on something I did when I was so naive and so im- mature. I’ve grown since that experience.” There were weeks of worry until acceptance letters from Iona College and others arrived. She still wonders, though, what to blame for two re- jections. The school board in Syracuse, New York, voted to no longer share disciplinary information with colleges when asked on the Common Applica- tion or elsewhere. “How many times should a student pay? You make a mistake when you’re a ninth grader and it hurts you when you are applying to college?” asked Sharon Contreras, superintendent in Syra- cuse.
