Affirmative Action For White People!

Via lots of places, this Boston Globe story on some rather interesting characteristics of incoming or first-year college students. (I try to avoid using the term "freshmen" since I think saying "men" and meaning "people" is stupid and sexist.)

From the story:

Surf the websites of such institutions and you will find press releases boasting that they have increased their black and Hispanic enrollments, admitted bumper crops of National Merit scholars or became the destination of choice for hordes of high school valedictorians...

What they almost never say is that many of the applicants who were rejected were far more qualified than those accepted. Moreover, contrary to popular belief, it was not the black and Hispanic beneficiaries of affirmative action, but the rich white kids with cash and connections who elbowed most of the worthier applicants aside.

Researchers with access to closely guarded college admissions data have found that, on the whole, about 15 percent of freshmen enrolled at America's highly selective colleges are white teens who failed to meet their institutions' minimum admissions standards.

Oops.

The story is full of interesting information about the college admissions process. For example:

Except perhaps at the very summit of the applicant pile - that lofty place occupied by young people too brilliant for anyone in their right mind to turn down - colleges routinely favor those who have connections over those who don't. While some applicants gain admission by legitimately beating out their peers, many others get into exclusive colleges the same way people get into trendy night clubs, by knowing the management or flashing cash at the person manning the velvet rope.

Historically, that meant white people (and often white men), since conscious and overt racism kept people of color out of college for a long time. Now, since white people have the advantage of legacy and historical presence, connections-based admittance means that more white folks get admitted in this fashion. This is one more example of how racism that happened in the past can still effect the world today.

Another great point:

Just 40 percent of the financial aid money being distributed by public colleges is going to students with documented financial need. Most such money is being used to offer merit-based scholarships or tuition discounts to potential recruits who can enhance a college's reputation, or appear likely to cover the rest of their tuition tab and to donate down the road.

An old friend of mine, once the student body president at her university, told me she thinks that merit-based aid needs to be completely abolished and replaced solely with need-based aid. I suspect this is one reason why. (The larger argument is simply that folks who can get to college on merit are more likely to have the means to pay for it themselves; those who qualify for both merit- and need-based aid can still qualify for need-based aid, and would not require the merit-based stuff.)

I hope this goes a long way towards pointing out the reason that affirmative action is still necessary.

Other folks are talking about this too: Jack and Jill Politics, TAPPED, and Atrios.