Seeking to broaden the diversity of its students, the University of Wisconsin System is encouraging admissions officers to begin weighing first-time applicants more holistically, beginning in 2007. Under the system’s plan, which campuses can choose whether to adopt, factors such as applicants’ race, family income, special talents, or other characteristics would be weighed along with academic credentials.

The university’s flagship campus, in Madison, already uses such an approach, as do many selective public institutions across the nation that have sought diversity in the wake of the 2003 U.S Supreme Court decisions that limited the use of affirmative action in admissions (The Chronicle, October 24, 2003). The court’s rulings said institutions could consider race in admissions but only as one factor among many in weighing applicants (The Chronicle, July 4, 2003).

A year ago, officials at the Wisconsin system vowed to defend their use of race on another front, saying they would not alter a student-aid program based on race and ethnicity that was the target of a discrimination complaint (The Chronicle, April 13, 2005).

For more on the Wisconsin plans, see an article in today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.