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New Study Finds Admissions Counselors May Prefer Deracialized Students

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People of different genders and racial backgrounds hold check mark signs in front of their faces

For those opposed to affirmative action, the question of race in college applications may seem pointless — or anti-white even — but there’s evidence to show that, while institutions of higher education say they want diversity, it’s a certain kind they’re after.

Dr. Ted Thornhill is a sociology professor at Florida Gulf Coast University and the man who authored the paper, “We Want Black Students, Just Not You: How White Admissions Counselors Screen Black Prospective Students.”

Dr. Thornhill spoke with WGCU before presenting his findings at a Howard University panel on Wednesday.

The study in its entirety is freely available to read here through September.

Rachel Iacovone is a reporter and associate producer of Gulf Coast Live for WGCU News. Rachel came to WGCU as an intern in 2016, during the presidential race. She went on to cover Florida Gulf Coast University students at President Donald Trump's inauguration on Capitol Hill and Southwest Floridians in attendance at the following day's Women's March on Washington.Rachel was first contacted by WGCU when she was managing editor of FGCU's student-run media group, Eagle News. She helped take Eagle News from a weekly newspaper to a daily online publication with TV and radio branches within two years, winning the 2016 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award for Best Use of Multimedia in a cross-platform series she led for National Coming Out Day. She also won the Mark of Excellence Award for Feature Writing for her five-month coverage of an FGCU student's transition from male to female.As a WGCU reporter, she produced the first radio story in WGCU's Curious Gulf Coast project, which answered the question: Does SWFL Have More Cases of Pediatric Cancer?Rachel graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a bachelor's degree in journalism.