, Columnist
Which Races Should Benefit, at the Expense of Which Others?
Asian-Americans suing Harvard reopen an awkward debate.
There’s no good argument for making today’s white applicants alone face an admissions disadvantage.
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When California debated a referendum to abolish affirmative action in state university admissions in 1996, President Bill Clinton sounded the alarm. “There are universities in California that could fill their entire freshman classes with nothing but Asian Americans,” he told the Sacramento Bee.
The referendum, which also covered state hiring and contracting, passed. But the underlying issue — that affirmative action works against Asian-American college applicants — has not gone away. And it is still an awkward one for the advocates of race-conscious admissions policies.