DEFUNIS RECONSIDERED: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVE ADMISSIONS STRATEGIES*

Abstract

In recent years much has appeared in the psychological literature on the use of tests and psychometric models in the selection of minority group members (e.g., Cleary, Humphreys, Kendrick, & Wesman, 1975; Cole, 1973; Darlington, 1971; Einhorn & Bass, 1971; Linn, 1973; Thorndike, 1971). Concurrent with this surge of interest in the psychometrics of selection has been an effort in many colleges, and in graduate schools and professional schools to utilize special admissions procedures to increase minority enrollments. It is, therefore, surprising that little has been done to relate the admissions procedures of universities directly to the psychometric models for fair selection of minority students. In DeFunis v. Odegaard,1 the issue of preferential minority admissions was brought to the Supreme Court. The case offers an ideal opportunity for the application of some of the psychometric models of fairness. In 1971, Marco DeFunis, a resident of the State of Washington, applied for admission to the University of Washington Law School and was not admitted. He thereafter brought suit against the University of Washington on the grounds that other persons with lesser qualifications had been admitted. Mr. DeFunis, a graduate of the University of Washington, had been elected to Phi Beta Kappa and had an accumulated grade point average of 3.71 out of 4. He had taken the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) three times with scores of 512, 566, and 668. He had applied to and gained admission to two law schools in other states. The Superior Court of the State of Washington, following trial, ordered that DeFunis be admitted to the University of Washington Law School in the class beginning in September, 1971. The Superior Court held that the procedures by which Mr. DeFunis had been excluded from admission were racially discriminatory and thus in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Accordingly, DeFunis began his legal studies at the University of Washington Law School in September of 1971. Subsequently, the University appealed to the Washington Supreme Court which