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Commission Ends College Gender-Discrimination Investigation

By: Greg Peppers // March 18, 2011
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The commission sought admission data from colleges in the Washington metro area.

The commission's probe began two years ago based on news accounts and anecdotal evidence that colleges were discriminating against women to promote a better gender mix.

But the commission voted to suspend the probe over the quality and quantity of the data subpoenaed from nineteen colleges. Minutes from the commission's March 11 meeting indicate members also disagreed about the data's implications for the nation as a whole.

The commission ran in to another roadblock in that it could could only subpoena data from colleges within 100 miles of the District. Data was sought from institutions in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Delaware and West Virginia.

Women outnumber men nearly 60 to 40 percent in higher education nationally.

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