The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents is considering adding extracurricular activities and personal information in undergraduate applications for the 14 colleges and universities in the state.,”

Applicants' personal lives may help them get into Wisconsin's public universities.

The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents is considering adding extracurricular activities and personal information in undergraduate applications for the 14 colleges and universities in the state.

The new draft would set the standard for the UW System and take a much broader look at students' academic record and extracurricular lives, according to David Giroux, spokesman for the UW System.

The new draft adds student experiences, work experience, leadership qualities, motivation, community service, special talents, status as a non-traditional or returning adult, status as a veteran of the U.S. military, whether the applicant is socio-economically disadvantaged and whether the applicant is a member of an historically underrepresented racial or ethnic group as factors in determining a student's success, according to the UW Web site.

Marquette uses the same type of admission process used at UW-Madison, said Roby Blust, Marquette's dean of undergraduate admissions.

Marquette admission examines courses, grade trends, ACT and SAT scores, the essay, community service and connections to Marquette, said Blust.

"To increase diversity, we look at geographical location, race, and ethnicity, among other factors," he said.

In 2005, 9 percent of UW System students were minorities. While 13.4 percent of Marquette's student population was non-white.

The current admissions policy for the UW System examines class rank in determining if a student is qualified, but according to Giroux, many UW schools are already using more than class rank to determine students' quality.

"We are casting a broader net to capture more information about students' lives," Giroux said.

According to Giroux, under the current policy students have the option to list race on their applications, but he said people would agree that admitting people solely because they're minorities is not a good practice.

On the UW System Web site, the schools deny that the new policy is an affirmative action policy because diversity in the classroom is described as a "core educational goal."

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 decided that race can be a factor in universities' admission process but it cannot be the overriding factor.

Critics of the new policy believe that it is unfair.

Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) said he believes that the policy is unfair because it is race-based.

"To imply diversity of outlook based on genetic make-up is the worst form of bigotry," he said.

Grothman said he is also skeptical of using essays in applications because some perceive a liberal slant in the UW System.

"My fear is that you will get points for entering a liberal essay and demerits for entering a conservative essay," he said.

The draft of the policy would tie together five different policies used by the UW System, some of which date back to the 1970s, according to Giroux.

The Board of Regents is hosting a statewide public forum on Monday, Jan. 29 from 4 to 7 p.m. to answer questions and get feedback on the draft of the new policy. The forum will take place at five UW campuses, including Madison and Milwaukee.

"The board will use the forum to gather public input and will address the matter during their Feb. 8 and 9 meeting," Giroux said. "The policy would take effect immediately if the Board of Regents approved it."

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has already adopted what it calls a comprehensive admission policy, which considers not only students' academic records but also their extracurricular activities and personal information.

According to John Lucas, UW-Madison spokesman, the university has had a comprehensive admissions policy for 20 years.

"The idea is to create a diverse mix of students with academics being the guide to that mix," Lucas said. "We are trying to give our students a better chance to compete on a national scale."

Without a standard measure for judging students, one admissions counselor may have different standards from another, but Lucas said that before a student is rejected a second counselor must evaluate the application and agree with the first counselor's assessment.

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