The College Fix

The tide of public opinion has turned against racial preferences in college admissions.

According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll out today, 76% of Americans oppose allowing universities to consider race as a factor in college admissions.

That’s good news, and shows that most Americans understand that reverse discrimination is not the path to greater racial equality.

Why is it then that so many universities continue to factor in race in their admissions decisions? Why is it that elite college administrators seem to be so out of step with the views of most Americans?

Martin Luther King famously longed for the day when men would be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. It’s a shame so many in the left-wing academic establishment remain committed to racial preferences.

Although members of some ethnic minority groups do, on average, face various economic and cultural obstacles, it will only be after we embrace truly color-blind policies in college admissions that we can begin to acknowledge the real cause of minority educational under achievement, which is the catastrophic breakdown of the traditional two-parent family. This is a problem that is, increasingly, affecting all racial and ethnic groups, not just minorities.

The evolving views of the American public on the issue of racial preferences gives us reason to hope that the academic establishment cannot long continue their policies of reverse racial discrimination.

Justice requires equal treatment, regardless of race. That’s something a majority of Americans, in their hearts, understand.

Nathan Harden is editor of The College Fix and author of SEX & GOD AT YALE: Porn, Political Correctness, and a Good Education Gone Bad.

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