The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal has published its paper titled, “Measuring Discrimination: Racial Preferences at Flagship Public Institutions.” This new paper analyzes the use of racial preferences in admissions at flagship public institutions and makes policy suggestions to end the practice.
Jenna A. Robinson, president of the Martin Center, coauthored the paper along with Rebecca Boyer-Anderson.
“Racial preferences harm students and undermine academic excellence,” Jenna Robinson explained. “It’s past time to stop using race in admissions.”
As Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in 2007, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race, is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”
The paper quantifies the trade-off universities make when implementing racial preferences into their admissions process. It explores how large the harms are, and how they affect students’ chances of admission into the university. As the Supreme Court considers race and admissions, this timely report is important in understanding the effect of affirmative action practices.
New policy reform recommendations on different topics will be released by the Martin Center regularly.