Cracking down on college affirmative action

On August 1, 2017 The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charlie Savage wrote an article* for the
New York Times about how President Donald Trump's Justice Department's Civil Rights Division
was going to investigate and sue universities whose policies discriminated against white student-
applicants. The article was named “Justice Dept. to Take On Affirmative Action in College
Admissions”. Charlie Savage is pointing out that this is an evidence that the Trump
administration is taking on the whole idea of affirmative action plans, especially the ones giving
benefits to special minority groups such as Blacks and Hispanics. The affirmative actions plans
were something the Obama administration was especially known for. The other issue Savage is
pointing out is that though, this is something related to the Educational Opportunities Section, it
is not common career civil servants who are pointed out to deal with it but instead the division
front office which holds Trumps political appointees. Meaning that this is another sign of the
Civil Rights Division has taken on a more conservative tilt under the Trump administration and
that this is something developed in Trump's Political front office.

The Supreme Court has ruled that it can be justified to use race as one factor among others if
you seek to have the educational benefits that come from having a diverse student body. While
blunt racial quotas or race-based point systems is not legal according to the Supreme Court. The
question whether it is either or, will be crucial for the new political project.

The article describes the debate that has emerged from this project. There are those who are
against this new project such as Kristen Clarke, President of the Liberal Lawyer's Committee who
is afraid that this will be a “dog whistle” for others to come down on universities that are trying
to work for diversity. On the other side of the frontier Roger Clegg, a previous top official in the
civil rights division during the previous Republican administrations is expecting that this new
project will look into how the university has stark gaps in test scores and dropout rates among
many different racial groups. Clegg is stating is that this would be evidence that admissions
offices are putting too great an emphasis on race and thereby crossing the line the Supreme
Court has drawn.

The Department of Justice and Education's goal is to investigate if there is any proof of racial bias
from the administration at elite universities. I think that it makes good sense to have a close look
to affirmative action plans, to see if they are really doing the job they are supposed to and not
creating a new inequality.

In 2009 Drs. Alexandria Radford together with Thomas Espenshade found proof of discrimination
against Asian-Americans.** The conduction of the research determined that Asian students
were disfavoured against other students in their SAT’s.

“Black applicants receive the largest admission bonus equivalent to 310 SAT points. A black
candidate with a SAT score of 1250 could be expected to have the same chance of being
admitted as a white student whose SAT score is 1560, all other things equal. The average
admission preference accorded to Hispanic applicants is roughly the same as having an extra 130
SAT points. On the other hand, an Asian candidate with a 1250 SAT score would be just as likely
to be admitted to a private NCSE (National Center for Science Education) institution as a white
student with a SAT score of 111, other things the same.”

I think affirmative actions plans does not help, in fact, they create reverse discrimination.
Affirmative actions plan in the university's admission systems is unfair to other races who are
doing better, like Drs. Radford and Esbenshade's research proves those that the plans seek to
help such as the black people will in the end not be equal to their fellow students who were
admitted due to their SAT score alone. My view is that as in the business world it should be in
the educational system that those with the best qualification should be favored over others. An
article*** from The Atlantic is also pointing out that blacks are more likely to drop out or fail the
exam than whites, thus reinforcing the stereotypical impression that blacks are weaker than
whites.

In Scandinavia, we have a similar discussion regarding the proportion of women in corporate

business boards. For many years there have been strong arguments that the problem with few
women in top level management should be rectified through affirmative actions plans or quota
systems like in Norway for instance. Some are arguing that men are likely to appoint other men
for management positions thus refraining women from getting the opportunity. I think that in all
cases the government should take no part in this discussion and that qualifications should be
key.

Notes:
*https://goo.gl/Mniwzj

**https://goo.gl/FXeExy, Page 93

***https://goo.gl/WMXVnQ