Notice how black admissions drop. Clarence Thomas is a traitor, screw everyone else he’s got his own.
Large university who is fully in control of the people they choose to admit or decline says “there’s no doubt they left out many qualified and promising applicants who would have excelled”. How could the government do this!? Large university, who is completely in control of their applications process, wonders out loud.
They are not fully in control because the ruling didn’t say that affirmative action couldn’t be a government requirement. It said that a policy that enables affirmative action violates the constitution.
So, they are no longer asking applicants about race or ethnicity information. But they are expanding recruitment and financial aid to prioritize low income students.
I’m not agreeing with the court ruling, just clarifying the false representation of the issue with regard to the school.
I was lucky enough to see Ibram X. Kendi speak on anti-racism in higher education, and it was illuminating to realize that, as a white, cis-het man, I might not be able to work within the system to change the system without actively breaking laws.
The example he used was actually affirmative action and EEO standards and how the best an ally can do in certain situations might be to put your thumb on the scale even when it’s technically illegal.
Basically, if you want to be anti-racist, you’ve gotta be Chaotic Good since the system is literally rigged against people of color.
So, they are no longer asking applicants about race or ethnicity information. But they are expanding recruitment and financial aid to prioritize low income students.
Holy shit, this is what I’ve wanted forever, finally!
FYI, places that already had affirmative action bans have partially got around this by at least pulling a percentage out of disadvantaged high schools (the kind with only one or two AP courses) since segregation still exists and it increases diversity. It’s not quite as direct, though, even if it is easier to justify.
Another FYI on the history of affirmative action; the original argument that won over the court wasn’t a social justice argument. It was a “diversity benefits everyone” argument — in other words, white kids benefit from exposure to black and brown folks. Which is in fact true, but kind of a fuckery rational to begin with and one that doesn’t seem to be winning over white folk the way it used to.
(Sorry for the fyis, just have to as the resident Education PhD on Lemmy)
As a white college graduate I can definitely confirm that I benefitted from black classmates as well as classmates of every other race. But also Jesus fuck that shouldn’t be the main reason why disadvantaged people of color get to get an education.
I’ll also add that a poverty quota in general is a good thing for colleges. I learned a lot from my impoverished white classmates as well.
There’s generally an effort to get first generation college students, which is a better way to ultimately say poverty quota. It’s a little easier to lie about, but it’s what most schools like to brag about. There’s also a lot more need based scholarships than there used to be, so that helps.
What changed in their admissions procedures as a result of the court ruling? Is it as simple as just not asking race on the application so they couldn’t hold spots open to fill racial quotas? Or is it more complex than that?
They had a way of weighting a person’s background as a part of their application. So imagine 2 students: -4.0 through high school, AP classes, a bunch of extra curriculars, great test scores -3.8 through high school, one AP class, no extra curriculars (because of family responsibilities), great test scores.
If the second student is a black student coming from a disadvantaged community, they legally can’t consider that in their admission process.
Good, should be based on rec letters, or parental income, or if they do not have access to that, zip code.
More than 40% of the US population identifies as a race other than white, according to 2023 census data.
White students make up 37% of the new class, compared with 38% last year, while the percentage of Asian American students rose to 47% from 40%.
Seems like with or without affirmative action, white students are underrepresented at MIT. 60% of the population (minus those who didn’t report?) vs 37-38% at the school. Or could there be a discrepancy about how white as a race vs Hispanic as an ethnicity is reported in the two different stats?
Anyway, white supremacy seems to have little to do with the issue. It’s the Asian American proportion that went up and the black, Hispanic, and Pacific Islander proportions that went down.
