LAST WEEK, the Supreme Court took up the case of Gratz v. Bollinger, which challenges the University of Michigan's use of racial preferences in admissions decisions. The outcome of this case will have far-reaching implications for the future of affirmative action and, indeed, for the future of higher education in America. In the interests of justice and equality, the Supreme Court should support the continued use of racial preferences in college admissions.
At issue in Gratz v. Bollinger is one of the strongest arguments for affirmative action: That increased diversity improves the overall quality of college education. In recent weeks, this claim has been the subject of great contention. A recent study published in The International Journal of Public Opinion Research finds that far from improving the educational environment, increased diversity is actually detrimental to the quality of college education.
Stanley Rothman, the study's author, surveyed more than 1,600 students and 2,400 faculty members and administrators at 140 colleges and universities, asking them to evaluate the quality of education and the state of race relations at their schools. He then correlated their responses with the percentage of black students at each institution and found that increased diversity is associated with poor work habits, diminished quality of education and a higher incidence of racial discrimination.
These findings may seem like a damning indictment of affirmative action, but there are several problems with the Rothman study and the conclusions it supports.
The first problem is an over-reliance on the personal opinions of students and faculty involved in the survey. The Rothman study attempts no empirical measurement of educational quality or student work habits, relying instead on perceptions of work ethic and quality of education. Personal perceptions are not solid ground on which to reject the value of diversity in education. Furthermore, those perceptions may be biased by the same racial stereotypes that restrict black access to higher education in the first place. Students and faculty who believe blacks to be of inferior intelligence and motivation are likely to associate rising black enrollment with a decline in the overall quality of their schools.
The Rothman study also draws an improper connection between increased diversity and a higher incidence of racial discrimination. According to Rothman, "increasing diversity brought increased perceptions of personal discrimination among students, a very troubling finding." But, troubling as it may be, this finding is no cause for surprise. The victims of discrimination are overwhelmingly black, and it is only natural that rising black enrollment should result in increased reports of racial discrimination. This discrimination is not the result of diversity itself, but of the racism that diversity aims to resolve.
Rothman's critique of the benefits of diversity in education is unconvincing. But even if diversity's benefits were shown not to exist, it would not be cause to reject the use of racial preferences in college admissions. Whatever the actual value of diversity, affirmative action is still needed to redress past injustices and promote racial equality.
Affirmative action is designed, first and foremost, to help blacks overcome the discrimination to which they have long been subjected. Although slavery and Jim Crow are long past, their legacies persist, especially in the form of unequal access to higher education. The historic restriction of black educational and economic opportunities means that today's black students are more likely to come from social and economic circumstances that are not conducive to winning the college admissions battle. Racial preferences help black students overcome the social and economic obstacles to college admission that centuries of legal obstacles have left behind.
But beyond all questions of history and diversity, racial preferences are an acknowledgement that social justice demands racial equality. Americans take pride in their egalitarian social order, but that pride is not entirely justified when race is a barrier to education and all its benefits. Equality of opportunity is the foundation of American society, and affirmative action is a legitimate means of promoting such equality.
The benefits of diversity may be questionable, but they are, ultimately, of secondary importance to the affirmative action debate -- the legacies of slavery, segregation and discrimination are of far greater importance. It is on these considerations that the Supreme Court and Americans in general should form their opinion of affirmative action.
In deciding the case of Gratz v. Bollinger, the Supreme Court should ignore Rothman's critique of diversity and, indeed, the entire question of diversity's value in education. Such considerations are important, but they should not obscure the real reasons for affirmative action: History, equality and a sense of social justice.
(Alec Solotorovsky is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at asolotorovsky@cavalierdaily.com)
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