Auburn Professor Presents His Program For Diversity

The U.S. Supreme Court has determined that affirmative action may no longer be used when determining applicants for universities. It is fear that diversity will no longer be achieved in our nation’s universities. How do we maintain diversity without racial and gender preferences?

The answer may be found in Professor Juan E. Gilbert’s computer software program that will enable school’s to generate a more diverse class. He recently delivered a speech, “Achieving Diversity in the New Affirmative Action Era,” in Squires that focused on addressing the issue with holistic approaches.

Gilbert is a professor for computer science and software engineering at Auburn University. He has been identified as one of the nation’s top African American scholars by the Diverse Teachers in Higher Education and was named Pioneer of the Year by the National Society of Black Engineers. He has raised $3 million in research funding at Auburn University for his efforts to create a more dynamic and diverse group of students in our nation’s leading universities.

“How do you turn them away and justify it in such a way that is fair and equitable for everyone?” Gilbert said. “It’s really not about race, gender, and national origin. It’s more about the capacity and service for those people that are qualified.”

This was the leading question that shaped Gilbert’s discussion on achieving diversity without affirmative action. He suggested a strategic solution of the problem through a program. Gilbert created a data mining software tool called Application Quest in order to assist institutions in fairly selecting not only qualified students while enabling diversity.

This program compares each application, then uses complex computer algorithms to divide applicants into clusters with similar backgrounds and qualifications. This technology not only can compare prospective students on a numerical basis but on a nominal basis as well.

Gilbert said he sees this as a median between those for and against affirmative action. It is a way to level the playing field and implement a fair, well-rounded admission selection process with no focus on race, gender, or demographics but instead an overall understanding of what it means to form a diverse environment.

“People want transparent, fair, and equitable admissions. Fair means different things to different people.” Gilbert said. “The concept of fair to me means it’s equitable in a sense that no one is given preference. Everyone has an equal opportunity.”

Gilbert repeatedly stressed how this is a tool and in no way a threat to the admissions process. This program is meant only to output recommendations, not final decisions.

The audience was a mix of teachers, faculty and students, and they responded to the presentation.

“I’m fascinated and supportive of the efforts to create a system tat can select into diversity,” said Associate Professor Susanna Rinehart. “However, I’m in fear that it could create one problem, while trying to solve another.”

Stephen Sikorski, a junior at Virginia Tech, also had questions. “My main concern is that this tool sacrifices student qualification in trying to achieve diversity, when an universities main goal should be to select the overall best qualified students,” Sikorski said.

It was apparent the audience was respectful and eager to learn about this new program; however, some present seemed skeptical of entirely eliminating the “human factor” in such an important decision.

Auburn University will implement this program in selecting its incoming freshman class of fall 2009. Gilbert concluded his discussion by reiterating his program will save time, effort and money in the application selection process.