20 Bad Arguments

Roger CleggEducation

Earlier this month, the trial ended in the lawsuit brought against Harvard University, challenging the school’s racially preferential admission system as illegally discriminating against Asian Americans.  The Center for Equal Opportunity has followed the matter closely, issuing two studies documenting Harvard’s discrimination that you can read here and here, and helping to write and joining an amicus brief in the case that you can read here.  And earlier this month, John S. Rosenberg — who edits the blogsite www.discriminations.us — and I wrote the piece below that appeared (slightly revised) in The Weekly Standard. The 20 Arguments for Discriminating Against …

Excluding by Race

Terry EastlandRacial Preferences

With countless Democrats eager to run for president in 2020, and with race a doubtless campaign topic in the short two years ahead, maybe some of the would-be Democratic candidates will see the merits of something President Obama once said, namely that the America he sees and celebrates is “not a black America and white America and Latino America or Asian America” but “the United States of America.” Obama said that during his breakthrough speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Alas, his tenure too often encouraged Americans to see themselves in terms of color and ethnicity, as I argued in …

Colorblind Law

Terry EastlandRacial Preferences

The Supreme Court Refuses to Stand in the Way of the People of Michigan In 2014 the Justices refused to strike down a ballot measure in Michigan providing that the state and its agencies “shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, and public contracting.” I wrote about Schuette when the decision was handed down (for The Weekly Standard). It was a ruling that allowed the people of Michigan—and not the federal courts—to decide whether basic …

Americans Don’t Like Racial Preferences

Roger CleggRacial Preferences

According to a recent survey, Americans don’t like racial preferences.  This is not news, being quite in line with many earlier polls, but the time and place here are rather propitious, with the Harvard affirmative-action case going to trial next week. The new survey, by Boston’s public-radio station no less, asked this question: “The Supreme Court has decided colleges can use race as one factor in deciding which applicants to admit. Do you agree or disagree with this ruling?” And 72 percent of those surveyed said they disagreed with the Court’s ruling, with only 24 percent agreeing. (Indeed, the only …

Supreme Confusion

Terry EastlandRacial Preferences

With the trial in the Harvard admissions case scheduled to begin this month, the diversity rationale for racial discrimination is likely to again be debated. A five-Justice majority sustained that justification in 2003 in the Michigan affirmative action cases. “Supreme Confusion” is the piece I wrote at the time (which was published in The Weekly Standard). It was disappointing not only that the Court embraced the diversity rationale, but also that the Bush administration failed to take issue with it—a development that could not have escaped notice among the Justices. If the Harvard case ultimately reaches the Court, diversity may …

Affirmative Reaction

Terry EastlandRacial Preferences

Now there was some interesting news—the story of a college that had ended affirmative action. I hustled to write a piece about this, only to find out that the College of Charleston was touting its commitment to affirmative action and going to continue to practice it in its admissions program. Too bad, at least for me. I wound up revising my article, published a few weeks ago in The Weekly Standard. The Charleston reversal (or whatever it was) remains compelling for the reminder it sends—namely, that the legal doctrine under which the courts have permitted racial preferences in admissions has …

Good News: Trump Rescinds Obama’s “Affirmative Action” Guidance

Roger CleggRacial Preferences

On July 3, the Trump administration announced that it was rescinding Obama-era guidance on the use of race and ethnicity in student admissions (higher education) and assignments (K–12). This is good news. As I explained on National Review Online as the Obama statements were issued — here and here and here, for example — they misread the law and were bad policy as well. It’s not that complicated: As a policy matter, skin color and national origin should not play a role in deciding where a student can go to school. The costs of such discrimination overwhelm any claim of …

The Latest Affirmative Action Suit May Succeed Where Others Failed

Terry EastlandEducation

In case you’re coming late to the story: a lawsuit has been filed against Harvard College alleging racial discrimination against Asian American applicants in its admissions programs. The headline above invites the question of whether the case might spell the end of race preferences in admissions. After all, at some point, as Justice Sandra Day O’Connor pointed out, race-based preferences must have “a termination point.” They can’t go on forever. They are morally and legally discriminatory, and they make no sense in our multi-racial, multi-culture country. Maybe Harvard will settle before the trial in October and quit its racial admissions, …

Google and Mismatch

Roger CleggEmployment

The Washington Post ran an article recently on Google and its demographics. Most of it is devoted to discussing the company’s “diversity” efforts and its painfully slow progress in achieving the politically correct racial, ethnic, and gender balance it wants. Too many white and Asian men, not enough of everyone else. But fear not: The suits — does Google have “suits”? — acknowledge “we need to do more to achieve our desired diversity and inclusion outcomes,” so department heads will be “tasked with meeting intermediate milestones,” and the company has set as one of its “major goals” to “reach or …

Investigating Discrimination at Harvard

Terry EastlandEducation

I wrote this piece last month (for The Weekly Standard) on the case in which a student group is charging that Harvard College in its admissions program racially discriminates against Asian American applicants. The case could prove a turning point in the more than half-century-old debate over the use of race in admissions. The arguments in favor of using race have become weaker and weaker, as this article shows. The trial is scheduled for October 15. Visit us here at the Center for Equal Opportunity for our continuing treatment of the issues at stake. The judge in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard …