When graduating, students receive their degrees from UNC; the piece of paper conferred to them is not just an endorsement of their academic ability.
It is also a testament to the fact that each of them spent four years in an environment filled with people from distinct backgrounds who also challenged their ways of thinking.
For that reason, University administrators ought to be lauded for joining the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success, an organization that hopes to make the college application process more accessible to underprivileged students.
According to a press release from the coalition, “Later this year, the Coalition will share details about new college planning and application tools that will streamline the admission and financial aid processes and allow students to begin planning for college much earlier in their high school years.”
UNC’s joining the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success is a step toward encouraging underrepresented students to apply for admission and financial aid.
Yet this decision was most likely not an easy one to make. A lawsuit is currently being levied against the University for its admission practices, which allegedly discriminate against high-achieving Asian-American and white applicants.
But the University ultimately made the right decision. Ensuring that the student body is filled with unique individuals and varied experiences is as important as academic excellence.
Without articulate discussions from disparate perspectives, colleges will no longer reflect the world we live in and instead start to act as a vacuous training camp for the elite.
