OU Accused Of Racial Discrimination When Admitting Students

The University of Oklahoma is being accused of racial discrimination when admitted students.

The Center for Equal Opportunity accuses OU of racial discrimination when it comes to admitting students to their undergraduate programs, along with their medical and law schools.

Roger Clegg with the Center for Equal Opportunity has been pouring though admission records from years past at OU. He was in town to show the findings.

"There's definitely evidence that African American students were being given a preference over other racial and ethnic groups," Clegg said.

Clegg says the median African American admittee has a 60 percent chance of admission at the University of Oklahoma.

A student with the same academic credentials has a 24 percent chance of being admitted if they are Hispanic, according to the CEO study.

If they are white, their chance of admittance is 22 percent, and 15 percent if they are Asian.

"We are talking about treating people differently because of their skin color. That's a big deal," said Clegg, who has conducted studies at hundreds of colleges around the nation.

The Center for Equal Opportunity chose OU in part because of a State Question 759, which will appear on the November 6th ballot.

It will ask Oklahoma voters to ban special treatment based on race or sex in public hiring, education or contracts.

OU released this response to the CEO study:

"Despite assertions made today by the Center for Equal Opportunity, the University of Oklahoma does not use race as a *specific criteria for admission to any of its programs. OU has closely followed prior Supreme Court guidance and relies on outreach and recruiting efforts to reach underserved populations," said Catherine Bishop, the VP of Public Affairs with OU.