Bates College recently published the results of a 20-year admissions policy giving applicants the option of omitting SAT scores from their applications. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the report was presented to the National Association for College Admissions Counseling in Milwaukee, Wisc.

The study showed that, while students who did not submit scores tended to choose more creative majors, there was no significant difference in the grade point averages for each group; those who did report scores averaged a 3.11 GPA while those who did not averaged 3.06. According to The Chronicle, the students who did not submit their scores had a graduation rate which was only a tenth of one percent higher than students who did submit their scores.

Since the introduction of the policy in 1984, approximately one third of each class has chosen not to report their scores, according to The Chronicle.

Bates officials say the policy has served to broaden the applicant base. Bates has seen increases in applications from women, minorities, low income students, international students, and students with learning disabilities. Forty-nine percent of all hispanic applicants, 45 percent of black applicants and 30 percent of white applicants did not submit SAT scores with their applications.

Bates' Vice President for External Affairs William Hiss believes that the quality of the applicant pool has improved noticeably in the past 20 years. "The large social-ethics piece in all this is whether the testing is truncating pools of applicants who would be successful if admitted," he told The Chronicle, asserting that the College had attracted better students because of its larger applicant pool.

UNC professor cleared of harrassment, discrimination charges after mishandling a discussion about homosexuality

The U.S. Department of Education recently completed its investigation of a charge of harassment and discrimination at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The investigation found that the University appropriately handled the situation involving Elyse Crystall, a lecturer, who was accused of discriminating against a student for his opinion on homosexuality, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The incident occurred in February, during a discussion in Crystall's "Literature and Cultural Diversity" class. The student described an incident about a male friend who felt disgusted after receiving a love letter from another male. After the class, Crystall sent out an e-mail criticizing the class and in particular a "white Christian male" for his "violent heterosexist comments," reported The Chronicle. The student reported the matter to the chair of the English department, who informed Crystall her remarks were inappropriate and unwarranted. Though she apologized to the class as a whole, the Department of Education reported that she did not apologize directly to the student. The university took no action against her, but the rest of her classes were monitored by an English department teaching coordinator.

According to The Chronicle, Walter Jones, a Republican chancellor in North Carolina, questioned the university's decision to allow Crystall to continue teaching after what he termed "an egregious violation of a student's right to speak."

The Department of Education stated in its report that the action taken by the college was adequate, and commended the university for having dealt with the problem so quickly, according to The Chronicle.