UT head wants to admit only the ‘right’ students

The chancellor of the University of Texas System has told lawmakers that it would be easier for the system’s flagship Austin campus to improve its national rankings if it didn’t have to admit so many students from Texas high schools.

Not exactly a flattering assessment of the state’s public education system, is it?

It’s also not exactly the words Chancellor Bill McRaven used when he appeared before the Texas House Higher Education Committee on Wednesday and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Thursday.

Still, it’s what he was saying. We need more from him on exactly what he’s trying to accomplish and how he plans to do it.

McRaven talked to both groups about what’s long been referred to as the Top 10 Percent Rule.

That’s the 1997 law that says students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their Texas high school class automatically gain admission to state-funded universities.

The law was a way of replacing affirmative action with a race-neutral policy that would draw on the racial diversity of Texas high schools to produce diverse incoming university freshmen classes.

As it turned out, more of those students wanted to go to UT Austin than any other state university, so much so that they took up an overwhelming share of seats in freshmen classes.

In 2009, legislators gave UT permission to limit Top 10 Percent admissions to 75 percent of incoming freshmen at the Austin campus.

McRaven has been on the job for a year. He said his charge is “to make us the very best.”

And he said this: “Candidly, right now what is holding us back is the 10 percent rule.”

He wants to “make sure the right students are coming to the university,” and to “put us in the position to be a more competitive university.”

McRaven said he’s “willing to bet” that the Top 10 Percent Rule hasn’t improved racial diversity at UT Austin.

There is political pressure to increase the national ranking of Texas universities. UT Austin is the state’s highest-ranking school, but U.S. News and World Report ranks it 52nd among universities nationwide.

This is far from the first time the Top 10 Percent Rule has been criticized. It can be changed or even eliminated if the Legislature decides to do so.

But changed or eliminated in favor of what admissions plan? Certainly, the goal for all state-supported universities must be to offer the very best education possible to all Texas students.

We can’t subjugate the interests of those students to our desire to impress magazine editors.

This story was originally published January 25, 2016 at 5:40 PM with the headline "UT head wants to admit only the ‘right’ students."