Can you spot the flaw in Ray Mobius’s argument, made in his op-ed in USA Today? Here’s the argument:
Questions about the value of diversity will be very visibly on the line this week in a case against Harvard’s admissions policy brought by legal activist Edward Blum, who has frequently challenged civil rights measures and race-conscious admissions. It would be bad for students and the nation if this lawsuit succeeded. It would strip the freedom and flexibility that Harvard — and other universities — need to create the diverse learning environment that benefits all students, and it would leave these students less equipped to make a difference in the world.
There are two, actually. The first and most egregious depends on your definition of diversity. The claim by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit is that Harvard is unfairly and illegally constraining the number of Asians it admits in any given year. The implication is that the Harvard Admissions Department has established racial quotas to the detriment of Asian applicants.
If you define “diversity” as an admissions policy that admits more qualified applicants of different races, ethnicities, etc., it’s obvious how bad Sec. Mobius’s argument is. You can’t even justify the policy on the basis of making Harvard “look like America”. That would require admitting more whites not fewer. The only justification is in defining “diversity” as admitting more blacks and Hispanics or, in other words, the opposite of any normal person’s definition of diversity.
The other problem is that in the military you can order people to do things and they must do them or go to jail. That limits the applicability of the military as a benchmark.
I’d be in trouble for saying this if I were still employed. I could lose my job if the wrong person used it against me, but it’s this: Universities have not only lowered the bar for Black students, They’ve lowered the bar for BEING Black. Every student with a trace of colored blood is a “person of color”. But if they don’t fit the mold for victim status, then they are a “White Hispanic”, like George Zimmerman, instead of a “person of color”. Which George would be if he were applying for admission to Harvard.
I’m surprised but not surprised asian students take this prejudiced system as well as they do, after all, they were raised with no expectation of entitlement, and will persevere.