A member of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Board of Governors addressed concerns about requiring standardized tests in the admissions process, citing a lack of evidence that they discriminate on the “basis of race” and other orientations.
During a virtual meeting held by the UNC Board of Governors on Wednesday, they discussed the next steps in the college admission process after a waiver on the standardized test requirement expires for the incoming 2025-2026 first-year students.
“I know there is sincere concern that requiring standardized tests, which we have in the past, is discriminatory, that it discriminates on the basis of race, or class, low income versus wealthy, or geography, in particular rural versus urban, and while these concerns are sincere, I do not think that they are currently supported by the evidence,” UNC Board of Governors member Art Pope said in the meeting, according to a local ABC affiliate.
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The UNC System, which is run by the Board, suspended the ACT and SAT score requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UNC Board did not vote on any changes to the standardized test score requirement but will vote on the changes in April.
Reportedly, the Board is also considering increasing the grade point average for prospective students and students who fail to meet the GPA standard would be allowed to take a standardized test to bolster their academic portfolio.
The UNC system joins a group of higher education institutions and officials across the U.S. considering the reinstatement of the standardized test requirement after COVID. Several have since reinstated it, including the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Georgetown University. On the West Coast, the University of California Board of Regents voted to permanently eliminate standardized test requirements.
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There has been criticism that standardized testing discriminates against Black and Hispanic students, who tend to score lower than White and Asian students. But some colleges now say standardized tests elevate minority students who might otherwise get overlooked. Some disadvantaged high schools don’t offer advanced coursework or extracurriculars or have teachers that can write a letter of recommendation, so SAT or ACT scores can help level the playing field for them.
A professor at Stanford Law School said that standardized test scores “provide universities with a scalable metric in the admissions process.”
Dartmouth College became the first Ivy League institution to reinstate its standardized testing requirement for the next application cycle. Yale followed soon after.
The University of Texas at Austin and Brown University are some of the latest to reinstate their standardized testing requirements.
