An Example of College Admissions Done Right

In order to become a more credible writer on this topic, I asked the Chief Admissions Officer at my school (a small, private university) if I could interview him on the topic of affirmative action in the admission process. He not only responded right away, but also agreed to answer all my questions. He then sent me his detailed, thoughtful responses the same day I sent the questions! And, I am happy to report that I attend a private university (not subject to the laws created by Proposition 209) which does not employ any form of affirmative action in the admission process, yet still maintains a percentage of minority students that is much higher that the average private college nation-wide.

Here's how my school handles affirmative action, a method I encourage all other private institutions to adopt in order to stop reverse discrimination once and for all:

"Rather than “lower the bar” regarding standards and criteria for admission that might be applied differently to minority applicants than to non-minority applicants, we’d rather work hard to recruit minority applicants who meet admissibility expectations of the Admission Committee.  And, we routinely deny admission to both minority and non-minority applicants who we feel are simply not prepared for the rigor of this school's curriculum. Ethnicity is considered in the recruitment and outreach process well before the admission process.  We recruit aggressively at targeted high schools and community colleges in an effort to attract as many minority applicants as we can. Frankly, we think we are doing a better than average job here of shaping a class each year that is both diverse and also prepared to be here without having to employ any type of affirmative action strategy. This school has a legacy of being one of the first private colleges in the nation to enroll students of color in the early part of the 20^th century.  We are trying to maintain that legacy, but not at the expense of the overall academic standards it took us so long to achieve. I bet that any minority students you have in any of your classes are just as prepared to be here as any non-minority student." 

I completely agree that minority students in my classes here are just as eligible as non-minority students. As this example demonstrates, diversity on a college campus is attainable without the use of affirmative action or a loss of academic rigor.