juan e. gilbert, ph.d. associate professor auburn university computer science & software...

Juan E. Gilbert, Ph.D.Associate Professor

Auburn UniversityComputer Science & Software Engineering

Human Centered Computing [email protected]

http://www.juangilbert.com/http://www.HumanCenteredComputing.org/

US Supreme Court vs. UMich

Two land mark cases challenged the University of Michigan admissions policies Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003) Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 (2003)


When the Law School denied admission to petitioner Grutter, a white Michigan resident with a 3.8 GPA and 161 LSAT score, she filed suit, alleging that respondents had discriminated against her on the basis of race.


She felt that she had been discriminated against because Michigan gave preference to minorities by weighting race.


This problem occurred because Michigan understands the benefits of

racial/ethnic diversity. The number of qualified applicants exceeded

the number of admissions slots.

Hence, some qualified applicants had to be turned away.


The Supreme Court issued clear, strong, unequivocal language endorsing Justice Powell’s opinion in Bakke, holding that the promotion of student body diversity is a compelling interest when necessary to achieve a school’s educational mission, and can justify the use of race as a “plus” factor in a competitive admissions process where all applicants are “on the same footing” for consideration.

Malcolm, S.M., Chubin, D.E. & Jesse, J.K., Standing Our Ground: A Guide for STEM Educators in the Post-Michigan Era, AAAS (2004)


A university has discretion, grounded in the First Amendment, in matters of academic judgment and does not have to exhaust every conceivable race-neutral alternative before considering race as one of many factors in order to satisfy the “narrowly tailored” definition, as long as the university engaged in a “serious, good faith consideration of workable race-neutral alternatives that will achieve the diversity.” A university is not required to actually adopt those “alternatives” if the university deems them inappropriate or unworkable.



A program implementing a flexible, holistic, individualized consideration of each applicant where race is only one of several relevant factors considered is likely to satisfy the “narrowly tailored” definition, whereas a program implementing a rigid, numerical value to each applicant based, even only in part, on race is less likely to be upheld and the automatic awarding of points based only on race is not permissible.


“I strongly support diversity of all kinds, including racial diversity in higher education. But the method used by the University of Michigan to achieve this important goal is fundamentally flawed. America is a diverse country, racially, economically, and ethnically. And our institutions of higher education should reflect our diversity.


Remarks by President George W. Bush on the Michigan Affirmative Action Case,The Roosevelt Room, January 15, 2003.

A college education should teach respect and understanding and goodwill. And these values are strengthened when students live and learn with people from many backgrounds. Yet quota systems that use race to include or exclude people from higher education and the opportunities it offers are divisive, unfair and impossible to square with the Constitution.”


Remarks by President George W. Bush on the Michigan Affirmative Action Case,The Roosevelt Room, January 15, 2003.


The Court decided that race could be considered in admission’s decision, but could not be the deciding factor.

Although this decision appears to support affirmative action efforts, it limits how race can be used to achieve diversity goals.

In sum, the Supreme Court ruled that diversity could be used in university-based admissions, but did not specify how diversity should be used.


As a result, several academic institutions have spent large sums of money to holistically evaluate admissions applications. University of Michigan, $1.8 Million Time intensive Point systems minus race/ethnicity

When university-based admission offices holistically evaluate applications. How does this translate into practice? What techniques could be employed to compare large

volumes of applications?


Ideally, a holistic evaluation would involve all the variables on an admissions application, such that no single variable (e.g. race/ethnicity) is the sole determinant of the admissions decision.

Rather, a collection of those variables are used to determine the admissions decision.


Imagine trying to holistically evaluate thousands of qualified applications?

Not possible, for humans.

Computer Aided Holistic Evaluation

What if every application was compared to every other application?

We would find similar applications in groups or clusters.

Summer 2003; The idea Fall 2003; Meeting with Drs. Walker & Wilson Spring 2004; Applications Quest Fall 2005; Open Source

What is Applications Quest?

Applications Quest

Applications Quest is a software tool that clusters admission’s applications based on holistic comparisons.

This software uses clustering algorithms to automatically compare thousands of applications to each other and place them into groups, based upon a holistic view of their similarity (i.e., similar applications appear within the same cluster).

The clusters represent diverse applicant pools.

Applications Quest

Applications Quest uses attribute-values on an application to determine similarity. GPA, GRE, GMAT, Essay, Race/Ethnicity,

City, State, Citizenship, Gender, Major, Degree

The more attributes in common, the more similar the applications.

SimilarApplications

How Similar?

The Applications Quest Approach

Applications Quest Approach

Numeric Attributes GPA, GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, etc.

Opinion Attributes Essays, Personal Statements, etc.

Nominal Attributes Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Major, Degree

Applications Quest Clustering

Applications are translated into an n-dimensional space, e.g. plotted as points on an x,y,z axis

Divisive Assume all points belong to one cluster At each step, select most different points Split the cluster around the two points Eventually each point is a cluster When do you stop?

When the specified number of clusters have been met.

Applications Quest Clustering

US Supreme Court vs. UMich Revisited

If Michigan had been using Applications Quest, what would have happened in the Gratz and Grutter cases?

Progress Report

Progress Report - Funding

NSF ITWF: Scholars of the Future: An Implementation Model for Increasing Diversity in Information Technology #0420485 Funds used to support Applications Quest

Auburn University Outreach Grant

Progress Report in the Press

Diverse (formerly Black Issues in Higher Education)

The Chronicle of Higher Education

Contra Cost Times – San Francisco

Berkeley Planet

Recruitment and Retention in Higher Education

University Business

Progress Report

Investigated licensing deal with 4 companies Admissions application processing Government hiring Ideal candidate application processing

Progress Report

Applied for patent on the application of this clustering algorithm.

Applications Quest prototype using AU Graduate School Applications.

Multi-University Pilot Study

Progress Report

Pilot Study Protocol Privacy Agreement Submit sample applications Identify admitted students Process the applications with Applications Quest Identify the Difference Index for Both Populations

Progress Report – Best Practices

Establish Minimum Admissions Requirements Test Scores, GPA, etc.

The Admission Bar


Two Part Admissions Process

First Part Typical applications attributes Test scores, GPA, Recommendation Letters, etc.

Do you meet “The Admissions Bar”? Do you have 2 bars? One for automatic admits and one for prospective admits


Second Part For those that met or exceed “The Admissions Bar” Collect Diversity information Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Political Affiliation, Memberships,

Legacy, Athlete, Views, etc.

Views Age, Religion, etc. The hard stuff that enriches the educational experience


Two Part Admissions Process Use Applications Quest to process the applications that

meet or exceed “The Admissions Bar”


University Wide Diversity Use the existing university students as part of the

admissions process On going collaboration with Dr. Richard Tapia at Rice

University (Naomi Reed, M.S. Student in Computational Mathematics)

Rice University - http://www.rice.edu/


Targeted Hires Submit an “ideal” application and interview members of the

“ideal” applicant’s cluster.


Usability Studies What’s the ideal N size?

Can Applications Quest find N? Studies are underway.

Progress Report – What’s Next?

February 27, 2006 Communications of the ACM Article

Ongoing pilot studies

Publish Best Practices Journal of College Admission

Press Release Fall 2007

Applications Quest Summary

Holistic Evaluations are Humanly Impossible.

Diversity is a worth while cause. And has been for a very long time.


Aristotle was open to the ideal of diversity, acknowledging that it could be useful for political discussion. He believed that conflict was inevitable and that multiple points of view served to make democracy stronger. For Aristotle, the state was better described as a plurality (made of many) than a unity (made of one); he understood the polity as requiring difference rather than homogeneity.

Frank, J. (2005). A democracy of distinction: Aristotle and the work of politics.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.


Mill’s Market Place of Ideas

[T]here are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until personal experience has brought it home. But much more of the meaning even of these would have been understood, and what was understood would have been far more deeply impressed on the mind, if the man had been accustomed to hear it argued pro and con by people who did understand it. (p. 105)

Mill, J. S. (1974). On liberty. London: Penguin Books. (Original work published 1859)


People want transparent, fair and equitable admissions policies.

Applications Quest meets all of these requirements and it’s free! The 2 phase admissions process works!


What if every academic institution in the nation used Applications Quest? How would students apply to college?

Apply to increase their diversity/uniqueness So what would be the national outcome?

Uniform diversity? Something to think about

Thank You

Juan E. Gilbert, Ph.D.Associate Professor

Auburn UniversityComputer Science & Software Engineering

Human Centered Computing [email protected]

http://www.juangilbert.com/http://www.HumanCenteredComputing.org/

juan e. gilbert, ph.d. associate professor auburn university computer science & software...

Documents

us supreme court

universitybased admissions

umich remarks

use of race

weighting race

basis of race

admissions decision

admissions applications