Tuesday, June 24, 2003

University admissions can use race, court rules

Click here.

A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that universities can give minority students a boost in admissions, saying affirmative action still is needed to ensure that future leaders are culled from a pool of "talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity."

But the high court made clear that racial quotas remain unconstitutional and said race cannot be the determining factor in who gets into college.


I don't really think that affirmative action was ever supposed to be about quotas in the first place--this was simply an over-reaction born of a fear of lawsuits. This decision, as far as I can tell, allows colleges and universities to continue considering race, but does away with the widespread urge to make it one of the absolutely most important factors in admissions. That should hush for a while the whiney white men who falsely believe that they've been getting the shaft. Not a bad day's work for the increasingly conservative Supreme Court...

For more of my thoughts on affirmative action, click here.

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