Within the spectrum of most social issues, I fall into the moderate-left or the firm-left camps. But there is one very salient issue of our time to which I often waver: affirmative action.
In principle, I wholeheartedly agree with the concept of affirmative action. There are certain minority groups the American social and legal constructs are inherently prejudiced against. It is only fair that those students who are just as hardworking as anyone else, but who have not received the same advantages growing up as their more privileged counterparts, are given every opportunity to succeed in this country. The question that arises from the affirmative action debate is to what extent it should be taken.
As an aspiring law student, I frequent the website Lawschoolnumbers.com to see what schools people with similar scores to mine have been offered admission. When people create their profiles for this site, they are able to identify themselves as URM, or underrepresented minority (which generally refers to Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans). I have fastidiously studied the scores on this site for a number of years now, and have taken note of the fact that admission to law schools is astonishingly easier if you are a URM.
For instance, as a Caucasian Jew from the suburbs, with my GPA, I would need at least 5-6 points higher on the LSAT to even be waitlisted at Harvard Law. For those unfamiliar with law school parlance, every point makes a big difference, and those 5-6 points are an exorbitant amount. Simultaneously, there are a plethora of URM students who have scored 3 points lower on the LSAT than me, and have lower GPAs than my own, who have been accepted to Harvard Law, most likely with some sort of scholarship offer.
Now, affirmative action really is a beautiful program for a cornucopia of reasons. First, it gives those slighted by extant racism in our country access to some of the most prestigious institutions available. It is not the case that some races are inherently smarter than others. We are all human beings. But some races and ethnicities are most often born into environments that offer significantly better education than others, and no one should be faulted for being dealt a 2/7 offsuit. Shifting the balance of power and allowing for equal opportunity is a fundamental tenet of American democracy, and affirmative action embodies those ideas.
Furthermore, affirmative action not only benefits underrepresented minorities, but it allows students from mostly homogenous backgrounds to meet and make friends with those who don’t look like them, effectively breaking down stereotypes and allowing for growth as a person. Interacting with those belonging to a different race, ethnicity or religion provides an experience you will never be able to obtain by taking an ethnic studies course. Whatever your thoughts may be on the recent Brad Paisley/LL Cool J collab “Accidental Racist,” their dialogue in the song is made possible in universities throughout the country because of affirmative action.
With that said, many schools have quotas for underrepresented minorities and give them three legs up in the application process. This in itself can be an extremely detrimental form of accidental racism. The person with a 173 on the LSAT is most likely significantly more qualified for Harvard Law than is the person with a 160, and by putting them alongside each other in class, the people more qualified to be there may associate the underrepresented minority with not being as qualified or as intelligent as the majority of white folks.
Second, the term “URM” in itself is stigmatizing and somewhat dehumanizing. We are all people, and while our backgrounds must surely be taken into account in assessing qualifications and the overall landscape of the student body, these measures should not be so draconian as to potentially create two different classes of students at the same institution, with classes largely dependent on race.
So I think what I waver on is not the concept of affirmative action, for this institution should be unquestioned. But the extent to which it is administered is sometimes taken to the extreme. Like everything else in life, college and graduate school admission should be a meticulous case-by-case process. While one’s background should play a large factor in admissions decisions, it shouldn’t be large enough as to where it could be detrimental to that individual.
Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
