10 Notes on the End of Affirmative Action
Coleman’s Corner (Coleman Hughes’ Substack)
An excellent piece by FAIR Advisor Coleman Hughes on affirmative action and the case, spelling out “as clearly as possible, my reasons for believing that this decision is a net good for American society.”
His 10 points (below and in detail in the piece) end with a solution found in “some of the most groundbreaking but neglected work” by Harvard’s very own Roland Fryer. “If one-tenth of the energy directed at preserving ‘Affirmative Action’ were directed at implementing the Fryer protocol…that would constitute, in my view, a serious intervention aimed at attacking the root causes of racial inequality.”
1. “Affirmative Action” is a Euphemism for Racial Discrimination - “We use euphemisms to hide ugly realities… ‘Affirmative Action’ may be popular. But the underlying reality it represents––racial discrimination and preferences––is unpopular with Americans of all races.
2. “Affirmative Action” Affects the Elites, Not the Masses- “‘Affirmative Action’ is an elite policy…..“access” to higher education will not be affected by this ruling; what will be affected is the ease of entrance to a select few very prestigious schools.”
3. The Benefits of “Affirmative Action” are Dubious- “…it’s implausible that a policy which only affects 1 percent of black and Hispanic kids each year could be responsible for any major trends (positive or negative) among blacks and Hispanics as a whole…Minorities were making steady progress before Affirmative Action started…”
4. Mismatch is Real- “[It’s] the idea that students admitted under lower standards end up struggling more than their peers… Whatever benefits racial preferences in college admissions have passed on to black and Hispanic students, it has certainly hurt many of them as well.”
5. “Affirmative Action” is Not the Product of The Civil Rights Movement - “While Dr. King did not live long enough to comment directly on racial preferences in college admissions, we know that he had a stable preference.. for class-based policies––policies that would target the black and white poor alike––over race-based policies.”
6. Quotas are a Red Herring- “If you’re racially discriminating either way, why should it matter whether you have a predetermined quota in mind?”
7. We’re Confused About Diversity “Our attitude towards diversity is schizophrenic…If diversity is a crucial prerequisite for learning….wouldn’t that imply that students at HBCUs aren’t learning?”
8. Affirmative Action as Reparations? “[It] is no small point…that 41 percent of black students at elite schools are not descendants of slavery and Jim Crow, but the children of post-1965 black immigrants.”
9. The Equilibrium Will Change - “Admissions offices… will not simply continue with business as usual minus the use of race… They may implement systems so clever that we could not even predict them now.. [and] a new equilibrium will be reached.”
10. If Not Affirmative Action, then What? “…Between the ages of 0 and 18…we can have the greatest impact on the human capital of black and Hispanic kids. A program which begins..[at] 18 is not a serious intervention. A serious intervention would focus on the younger, more malleable years. What kind of intervention do I have in mind? Harvard economist Roland Fryer has done some of the most groundbreaking but neglected work on this question.”
