Academic Merit

In 1977, Allan Bakke sued the University of California. Bakke claimed that he deserved to be admitted to the UC-Davis medical school, but had been denied because minority applicants with lower qualifications were given advantage and priority based on their races.
Lawsuits challenging the use of race-based admission policies by the universities are continuing to move through the US court system. While this issue may take time to resolve, in the meantime it is important to shed some light on the reasons that state that university admissions should be based primarily on academic merit.
First, an ethical reason that attacks the assumptions on which race (diversity) sensitive admissions are based. This “colorblind” reason suggests that focusing on racial difference...