Administration urges justices to continue college affirmative action admissions

[alp227]

Source: Washington post

The Obama administration urged the Supreme Court on Monday to continue to allow universities to take race into account when assembling their student bodies, saying the government has a “vital interest” in drawing its leaders from a diverse pool of college graduates.

The administration supported the University of Texas, whose policy of considering race as one factor of deciding who will be admitted to the flagship university in Austin is being challenged.

The case will be one of the most important of the coming term for the court— underscored by more than 50 friend-of-the-court briefs filed by outside groups and individuals.

The Supreme Court nine years ago said that universities had a legitimate interest in building diverse classes, and provided guidelines for administrators: An applicant’s status could not be automatically boosted because of his or her race, but race could be one factor in a holistic review of the person’s qualifications.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/administration-urges-justices-to-continue-college-affirmative-action-admissions/2012/08/13/6c5285da-e55e-11e1-8f62-58260e3940a0_story.html?wprss=rss_politics

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My personal view of college affirmative action: Meritocracy should always come first, but there's nothing evil about a diverse student body.

[bluestateguy]

1. I would not be optimistic about the Court siding with UT

What I think will happen is that the Court will say it is fine and good for universities to try to achieve diversity, but academic standards may not be compromised because one comes from a certain minority group.

[hifiguy]

2. Using economic class as a proxy for race

would probably avoid some of these problems. And it is not an unreasonable proxy. The son or daughter of an African American who is a partner at a big law form or a successful physician really doesn't need a "boost" unlike the working or middle class kids, whatever race they may be.

[Macoy51]

3. Base AA on Economic Class

I think making Affirmative Action based on economic class would remove a lot of the opposition to AA.



Macoy