Assuming Abigail Fisher is as qualified for university admission as she says she is – and there is no reason to believe she isn’t – there may be only two reasons for her to be denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin: some sort of clerical error, or the fact that she is white. Thankfully, this is going to the U.S. Supreme Court so the question of race-based admission can be settled once and for all. Having graduated from two racially diverse schools myself, I say no.
Fisher is suing the university for its admissions policies, which, after accepting applicants from the top 10 percent of high school students, considers “test scores, community service, leadership qualities and work experience” along with race of students in the next 20 percent. She says she was more qualified than many of the other students in this bracket and was denied admission for being white. The school, “‘will vigorously seek a decision’ reaffirming the educational benefits of diversity and its narrowly tailored admissions policy.”
I will not deny that there are educational benefits to diversity; I took many discussion-based courses in which minority students offered unique perspectives on issues with race as a factor. And as Brenda Shum of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law points out, there isn’t much of a constitutionality argument. That would only apply if the admissions standards were codified by a state or federal government.
But that does not make it ethical to include race as a factor in admissions. Going purely on the basis of merit certainly does not guarantee racial homogeneity. To suggest otherwise carries the implication that minority students are automatically disadvantaged because of their race and need all the help they can get, despite the needs of other students. This, in itself, is racism.
By continuing to insist on diversity above all else, supporters of UT’s admissions policies are essentially admitting that given the choice between a well-qualified white student and a less-qualified minority one, they would choose the latter. This is equally unfair to the less-qualified student who gets thrown into an educational setting for which they are less prepared. Most importantly, at some point after these policies begin, resentment between students comes with it. This is no way to create a harmonious atmosphere.
My point is this: Let in the people who deserve to be let in for their individual skills, not one little check box on an application form. (For the record, I was given the opportunity to self-declare on my applications and I never took them. But the University of Winnipeg isn’t exactly prestigious. Come on, you know it isn’t.)
You do realize that Abigail Fisher earned an 1180 (math + critical reading) on the SAT? That is not even near the mid-50% of all incoming freshman. She got rejected because of her numbers and not because of her race.
People should not automatically assume that she’s qualified because she’s white.
I had not known that, and thank you for bringing it to my attention. Nonetheless, since students outside of the top 10% were considered for reasons other than grades, it’s possible that other aspects of her application (work experience, etc.) could have made her, as a whole, more qualified than an applicant with better scores but poor “rounding out.” This has indeed been a trend among U.S. colleges in recent years. In any event, her case does highlight a problem that is likely to happen when affirmative action policies are in place.