I have been advocating for the end of affirmative action based on color, ethnicity, and sex for over 20 years. It did not make sense based on what I saw. The majority of the beneficiaries came from well to do families that did not need a help up the economic ladder. I would tell people why the children of Obama should be given a leg up over the children of a poor or middle-class white person. Finally, studies and “Liberal” viewpoints are noticing the unfairness of that system. It was okay when it was first implemented, but it quickly became problematic not too long after it was adopted.
I’ve long been a supporter of racial diversity in colleges. I think that’s enormously important, but I’ve been troubled that elite colleges were racially integrated, but economically segregated.
I think there’s a better way of creating racial diversity — a more liberal way, if you will — which is to give low-income and economically disadvantaged students of all races a leg up in the admissions process in order to create both racial and economic diversity.
What was the data that you looked at that led you to believe that? Were primarily wealthy Black and Hispanic students benefiting from affirmative action?
There’d been a number of studies over the years that had come to that conclusion, including from supporters of race-based affirmative action. Then, in the litigation, further evidence came out. At Harvard, 71 percent of the Black and Hispanic students came from the most socioeconomically privileged 20 percent of the Black and Hispanic population nationally.
Now, to be clear, the white and Asian students were even richer. But for the most part, this was not a program that was benefiting working-class and low-income students.
