Despite decades of legal actions, legislation, and US Supreme Court decisions, "affirmative action" in college admissions is still a political hot potato. The New York Times reports that the Trump Administration is recruiting from among its political appointees to the Justice Department's Civil Rights division for lawyers who want to bring challenges to race-based policies in university and college admissions. Critics fear that will weaken protections for blacks and Latinos. Caught in the middle is the fastest-growing minority, Asian-Americans. Is the Administration aiming for real change — or signaling to its base of supporters? Is the real enemy of "diversity" not race after all--but economic inequality?
Diversity in higher education is back in the crosshairs
More
- Students for Fair Admissions v. Fellows of Harvard College
- Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina
- Wong on the complicated history of affirmative action
- Wong on the thorny relationship between Asians and affirmative action
- Shapiro on Sessions DOJ going after affirmative action's institutional racism
- Emba on rich people, not blacks, keeping white Americans out of college
- Schmidt on colleges' exaggerated fear over Trump's attacks on race in admissions
Credits
Guests:
- Alia Wong - Atlantic magazine - @aliaemily
- Ilya Shapiro - Cato Institute - @ishapiro
- Christine Emba - Washington Post - @ChristineEmba
- Peter Schmidt - Senior Writer, Chronicle of Higher Education - @pschmidtchron