Tanet invited to present at Harvard - Assistant to the Dean and UH doctoral student, Jay Tanet has been invited to present his research Admission or Denial: How Bakke, Hopwood and Grutter Impacted One Southern Medical School on February 24th at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The policy analysis reviews the University of Texas Medical Branch's admission policies prior to and immediately following four landmark education cases.

Abstract

Do universities modify their admission policies following high-profile litigation? This policy analysis reviews written admission policies prior to and immediately following four landmark education cases. The cases of Bakke, Hopwood, and Grutter are considered because of their direct connection to university admissions; Brown v. Board of Education is included because of its all-encompassing reach over education access in the United States. When considering policy implementation at a state university, funded by tax dollars and governed by regents and legislation, the line between policy and law tends to blur. The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) operates within the context of school, local, state, and federal regulations. Racial, ethnic, linguistic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity are important contextual considerations affecting the complexity of this university’s admissions policies. Francis Fowler (2003) notes that all policies are mediated through the context in which they are implemented, and that they always change in the process. The UTMB admissions policies are no exception. While the primary focus of this analysis is on admission policies immediately prior to and following the abovementioned cases, sections of the first UTMB catalogue and of subsequent catalogues are of historical value and included by the researcher in hopes of adding to the richness of this qualitative analysis. Currently, a quantitative study is underway to determine if any statistical significance can be found in admissions outcomes within the School of Medicine comparing the enrollment data before and after the four cases to determine any correlation between written policy and administrative practice.