bitterlyclingin
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- Aug 4, 2011
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A new low in apologies for racial discrimination
With the Supreme Court set to hear argument this week on the use of racial preferences in student admissions by state universities, the deans of Harvard and Yale law schools ( Martha Minow and Robert Post) defend this practice in a Washington Post op-ed. Part of the defense consists, as usual, of touting the supposed virtues of a “diverse” student body. We have written about this tired, disingenuous argument in the past and will do so again as this latest case – Fisher v. University of Texas – moves toward resolution.
But Minow and Post present a more novel argument, one that makes the “diversity” riff seem well-reasoned and intellectually honest by comparison. Minow and Post suggest that their institutions consider race only insofar as it helps them assess the “character” of applicants. They do so by considering what applicants say about “the role that race has played in their lives.”
Let’s try to understand this. Elite institutions like Harvard and Yale typically admit classes in which Blacks are represented in percentages vastly greater than the percentages that would result from consideration of only objective criteria – essentially grades and test scores. A class that, under race blind criteria, might be only 3 percent Black will end up with, say, 10 percent Black representation.
Are we to believe that this huge bumps is results from the superior character of Black applicants as a group? In the eyes of Minow and Post, Black character must exist on a significantly higher plane than White character.
A new low in apologies for racial discrimination | Power Line
With the Supreme Court set to hear argument this week on the use of racial preferences in student admissions by state universities, the deans of Harvard and Yale law schools ( Martha Minow and Robert Post) defend this practice in a Washington Post op-ed. Part of the defense consists, as usual, of touting the supposed virtues of a “diverse” student body. We have written about this tired, disingenuous argument in the past and will do so again as this latest case – Fisher v. University of Texas – moves toward resolution.
But Minow and Post present a more novel argument, one that makes the “diversity” riff seem well-reasoned and intellectually honest by comparison. Minow and Post suggest that their institutions consider race only insofar as it helps them assess the “character” of applicants. They do so by considering what applicants say about “the role that race has played in their lives.”
Let’s try to understand this. Elite institutions like Harvard and Yale typically admit classes in which Blacks are represented in percentages vastly greater than the percentages that would result from consideration of only objective criteria – essentially grades and test scores. A class that, under race blind criteria, might be only 3 percent Black will end up with, say, 10 percent Black representation.
Are we to believe that this huge bumps is results from the superior character of Black applicants as a group? In the eyes of Minow and Post, Black character must exist on a significantly higher plane than White character.
A new low in apologies for racial discrimination | Power Line
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