| Color or Character |
30 June 2003
|
Supreme Court Permits Some Discrimination
The Supreme Court has come down on both sides of the affirmative action issue in the recent cases of Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger -- admissions cases at the University of Michigan. The court said it was acceptable to use race as a factor in determining who attended the university, but the point system used there was unconstitutional. It is a shame the court did not expand on the general idiocy of the undergraduate admissions policy.
The University of Michigan's admission system committed howling sins against the idea of merit that had nothing to do with ethnicity. Out of 150 points possible, race accounted for only 20, and socioeconomic disadvantage for 20 -- but one can't claim both. Being an athlete is worth 20 -- it seems, redressing 400 years of racism is equal to redressing last year's defeat in a Bowl game.
Winning a national science competition, such as the Westinghouse (now Intel) Award, is worth 5 points while having a parent who went the Michigan scores an applicant 4 points -- translation, alumnus donor money is as good as being prepared for college. See http://www.umich.edu/~urel/admissions/faqs/uapolicy.html for the foolishness in total.
And yet, to quote the website, the "score is sometimes, but not always, the basis for the ultimate admissions decision." Then, why bother with it?
What every American hates to hear, let alone admit, is that admission into college and securing employment in the US, as everywhere else, are subjectively determined. Some objective criteria are used to weed out the unsuitable. And those same criteria suggest some applicants are clearly suitable regardless of who the competition is.
The complaints come from those who believe where one is educated counts more than what one learns, and who haven't performed well enough to truly standout. The University of Michigan is a fine center of learning, but it is not the only one in the state, and rumor has it that a good education can be had outside of Michigan as well. One wonders how many turn down a place at Stanford, CalTech, MIT or Princeton to attend Michigan on academic grounds alone.