RACIAL PREFERENCES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN….Over at NRO’s The Corner, John J. Miller comments on a New York Times article about racial preferences at U.S. military academies:
What the article doesn’t supply are any actual numbers showing how much preference minority applicants receive. For that, it’s necessary to read this report from the Center for Equal Opportunity, which shows that preferences do appear to play a role in admissions–but not nearly the role they play at the University of Michigan, whose admissions process is currently under Supreme Court review. At West Point, for instance, CEO found a 100-point gap between the SAT scores of whites and blacks admitted. At Michigan, that’s the difference between whites and blacks on the verbal section alone.
But this is an important point: would the UM program be OK if they gave minorities an extra 10 points instead of 20? How about 5? It’s an important distinction, and not one that Miller should dodge.
In another post he says, “The defenders of Michigan’s race-driven policies obscure the debate when they try to hide behind West Point,” but it’s opponents of preferences who obscure the debate when they rattle on incessantly about UM’s 20-point bonus. Are they opposed to any effort to help minorities, or only to helping out too much?
