Scramble for students
January 26, 2007 at 10:13 am by Chante LaGon in Not-lantaColleges Regroup After Voters Ban Race Preferences
By TAMAR LEWIN
Published in the New York Times: January 26, 2007With Michigan�s new ban on affirmative action going into effect, and similar ballot initiatives looming in other states, many public universities are scrambling to find race-blind ways to attract more blacks and Hispanics.
�Scrambling�? That doesn�t make me confident in these schools� ability to recruit minority students. What harm was it causing to give disadvantaged � and I mean economically, not racially � students a better chance at college? Cost is more prohibitive than ability. And how is giving greater consideration to kids who live �in mostly black Detroit� NOT profiling? This was a dumb decision. Anti-affirmative action legislation at schools dumps that much more work on administrators who should be focused on students� education. Now, they�ve got to jump through hoops to reach the same finish line. Let�s watch in five years how the scramble leads to lower college enrollment among minorities. Oh, right, we don�t have to � it�s already happened in California and Michigan. Interestingly, Georgia � nor any Southern state � is on Ward Connerly�s short list he�s targeted for the race-blind conversion. Then again, we�re probably doing fine without him.
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