The Louisiana Board of Regents announced at its monthly meeting on Sept. 26 it will audit, or officially inspect, university admissions across the state to determine if each is complying with the board’s required minimum admissions standards. The board could potentially withhold funding from any university found non-compliant with the standards.
LSU President F. King Alexander and the University’s move to a “holistic” admissions process heightened public interest in admissions standards. The Board of Regents responded by quietly announcing the audit. The first-time audit aims to measure compliance with admissions standards created by the Board of Regents in 2005 that focused on enrolling students at institutions where they could be most successful.
The purpose of the audit, which will commence in January 2019, is to get a handle on how many students are accepted to universities throughout the state under the exception rule and why, according to Richard Lipsey, a major University benefactor and Board of Regents member. The numbers provided from the audit will create a baseline to compare future incoming classes specifically to the fall 2018 freshman class admitted under holistic review.
LSU, as Louisiana’s flagship institution, previously held the strictest admissions standards. By ordering the independent review of LSU’s admissions decisions, the state’s educational board signaled its plans to frequently review the admissions process.
The controversial holistic admissions policy relaxed the University’s required 22 ACT score and 3.0 GPA admissions standards. Previously, the University rejected any applicant who did not meet those requirements. Under holistic admissions, the University now reviews an applicant’s essays, recommendation letters and extracurricular activities in an effort to determine the student’s chance of success.
The Board of Regents allows exceptions to the minimum admissions standards for universities throughout the state. Students who do not meet LSU’s admissions criteria can be accepted under the exception rule. Created in 2010, the exception rule allows 4 percent — roughly 200 students — of LSU’s incoming freshman class to be admitted despite not meeting the ACT or GPA requirement.
The holistic admissions change sparked outrage from critics who believe holistic admissions will lower the University’s standards. The ensuing public battle over holistic admissions pitted Alexander against Lipsey.
“The 2017 figures will be used as sort of a baseline for indiscretion,” Lipsey said. “The 2018 figures are where we will look for changes.”
In addition to the effort to determine compliance, Lipsey argues that Alexander’s process of implementing holistic admissions brought about the statewide audit, specially targeting the lack of a LSU Board of Supervisors’ vote on the admissions change.
“It’s incomprehensible that someone would announce [Alexander’s] changing the standards of the University without informing his own Board of Supervisors and getting approval,” Lipsey said. “He should have discussed this with the Board of Regents. He should have gone to his own management board. His management board runs the system. He did not have respect for his own board to discuss this with them. That lack of respect from President Alexander for his own board and the Board of Regents is what started this whole investigation into what’s going on.”
The Daily Reveille reached out for a comment from Alexander, but LSU Media Relations Director Ernie Ballard said the University has not released any public statements regarding the Board of Regents’ audit.
The audit’s final report is expected to be presented in May or June. The University will submit information on students who were accepted under the 4 percent exception rule. After reviewing the information, the board’s auditors will conduct a blind audit in April of students accepted under the exception status to validate the information provided by the University.
The Board of Regents controls the state’s higher education funding and could potentially halt funds to any public university found non-compliant with the admissions standards.
“We have lots of different things we can do, but the main thing is that the Board of Regents controls the money,” Lipsey said. “We can withhold money from LSU or any school that violates our policy.”
Editor’s Note: The online version of this story may be updated if a statement is released.