Race-blind admissions: ahistorical and outdated

Race-blind admissions: ahistorical and outdated

The author responds to the op-ed written by Keli Morgan, where Morgan argued that Affirmative Action is unconstitutional. The author argues that "the case for racially blind admission is ahistorical and grounded in outdated universalist ideals".

Volume 110, Number 17

Michael Campbell

The Campus

03/08/2012

Michael Campbell

"For instance, if hypothetically Alex's parents or grandparents were given access to higher education through a governmental program (i.e. the G.I. Bill) at a time when people of Alex's racial group were given substantially greater access to higher education because of existing systems of oppression (e.g. inequitable school funding and inequitable access to jobs), then the superior jobs with which Alex's parents paid for Alex's superior education are a legacy of racism. The money that paid for Alex's SAT classes, writing tutor and science camps may have been largely a product of Alex's parents' hard work, but their whiteness played a role in their success, and by extension, Alex's academic profile."