A 'Dubious Expediency': How Race-Preferential Admissions Policies on Campus Hurt Minority Students
The Heritage Foundation, Special Report No. 167 (2015)
40 Pages Posted: 27 Dec 2016 Last revised: 5 Jan 2017
There are 2 versions of this paper
A 'Dubious Expediency': How Race-Preferential Admissions Policies on Campus Hurt Minority Students
A 'Dubious Expediency': How Race-Preferential Admissions Policies on Campus Hurt Minority Students
Date Written: August 31, 2015
Abstract
Mounting empirical research shows that race-preferential admissions policies are doing more harm than good. Instead of increasing the numbers of African Americans entering high-status careers, these policies reduce those numbers relative to what we would have had if colleges and universities had followed race-neutral policies. We have fewer African-American scientists, physicians, and engineers and likely fewer lawyers and college professors. If, as the evidence indicates, the effects of race-preferential admissions policies are exactly the opposite of what was originally intended, it is difficult to understand why anyone would wish to support them.
Keywords: affirmative action, mismatch
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