Private colleges and universities have taken heat for showing preference in admissions to the children and grandchildren of wealthy donors or politically powerful alums.
For public universities such as those in Mississippi, that’s not an issue, since they follow objective admission standards that leave little room for discretion. Either you have the grades or the test scores to get in, or you don’t.
However, according to a report this week by Mississippi Today, at least one university in this state has developed another way to keep the well-connected happy by giving preferential treatment on dorm rooms to their offspring or other family members.
The nonprofit newsroom unearthed a mostly secret system that Mississippi State University has used for years, possibly decades, to give “housing assignment assistance” to about 100 students annually who want to get in the newer, better dorms or want to change rooms from those they have been assigned.
Mississippi Today said its investigation shows that the students who received this so-called “five star” help generally came from families with wealth or connections. Mississippi State, though, disputes that, saying through a spokesman that such assistance was provided to all students who asked for it, even if the results showed that those who most benefited were white and wealthy.
Not to doubt the university’s version, but if the “five star” program was truly an equal opportunity effort, how come those who administered it in the MSU student housing department didn’t understand it that way and were told to keep it a secret from no less than their boss? In an email discussing the program four years ago with her staff, Dei Allard, the department’s executive director, reminded the employees to keep it in the “family” and to “keep your mouth shut.”
MSU is probably not alone in giving preferential dorm treatment. It may, though, have been more blatant about it than most, developing at one point a system, since reportedly discontinued, in which the “5*” designation was part of the student’s profile in the university’s housing database.
As the Mississippi Today article points out, children from wealthy families already have a built-in advantage to get in the best dorms, since those are significantly pricier than the older, traditional dorms. Thus, it’s possible that the “five-star” system does not so much discriminate against poorer students, whose families couldn’t afford the higher-cost dorms anyway, but against equally well-to-do students whose parents aren’t alums or don’t have the other connections that MSU values.
Regardless of who is getting a raw deal on this, it shouldn’t happen. Colleges and universities are supposed to be among this nation’s great equalizers. They are places where students are supposed to be on the same plane. No one deserves a better class schedule or a better grade simply because of who their parents are. The same should be true for student housing.
Some dorm rooms may be more expensive than others, just like some apartments in Starkville are more expensive than others due to their size, condition and amenities. But all who can afford a dorm’s cost should be treated equally.
Five stars are meant for hotel and restaurant ratings. They don’t belong in distinguishing between students and their families.
