American Civil Rights Institute Blog

New Hamsphire Bars Racial Preferences

January 4, 2012

In a bit of surprising news, New Hampshire has barred the government from admitting, hiring, recruiting, and promoting based on race, sex, national origin, religion, or sexual orientation. An excerpt from the Chronicle of Higher Education: “Both chambers of the state’s legislature, which came to be dominated by conservative Republicans as a result of the [...]

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John McWhorter on OWS and Preferences

January 4, 2012

The Manhattan Institute’s John McWhorter is one of those writers with whom I tend to agree and disagree from paragraph to paragraph. For example: Giving people a leg up in admissions policies to acknowledge the obstacles they have faced is fine. But rejecting students on the basis of their not happening to be brown is [...]

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Holistic Review at Santa Cruz

January 2, 2012

I’ve always wondered why a “holistic” admissions review process would increase diversity. If the admissions committee applies such a review to all applicants equally, in what way would it favor blacks and Hispanics? Perhaps my wondering is in vain and assumptions incorrect. At any rate, the University of California at Santa Cruz will emphasize “personal [...]

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Big Diversity

January 2, 2012

Hoover Institute fellow and columnist Victor Davis Hanson hits the proverbial nail on the head in a recent column, “Diversity, Inc.” “Affirmative action” evolved in the U.S. from broadening educational and employment opportunities for a group of historically enslaved and segregated people—descendants of African slaves—to granting entitlements and special rights to other so-called victims. It’s [...]

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Handy Guide to Racial Discrimination

December 27, 2011

Did you know that earlier this month, the Obama administration released two documents to help taxpayer-supported schools admit individuals based on the color of their skin? I suppose a better question is, do you care? If you don’t, you should. In 2011, we’re still allowing our government to discriminate against some and prefer others on [...]

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What Will Obama Do?

November 22, 2011

Century Foundation senior fellow Richard Kahlenberg believes children from low-income homes learn better if surrounded by children from higher-income homes, one reason why he advocates socioeconomic preferences. More palatable than blatant racial preferences, socioeconomic preferences focus on family income levels. In a Chronicle of Higher Education blog post, Kahlenberg recounts the current “affirmative action” debate [...]

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Roger Clegg Sobre la Contratación de Maestros Hispanos

November 21, 2011

The Washington Post published Roger Clegg’s long letter to the editor in response to hiring more Hispanic teachers: “The gist of the Nov. 16 news article ‘In search of Hispanic teachers‘ was that, because the number of Hispanic students is growing, Prince George’s County public schools and school systems elsewhere want to hire more Hispanic [...]

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Through the Looking Glass

November 18, 2011

So now it’s controversial to propose that race not be a factor in receiving taxpayer-funded government grants. How, in such a short period of time, did we arrive here? A state assembly member in Wisconsin, a Democrat, introduced a measure that would eliminate considerations of race in the Talent Incentive Grant. Is the proposed amendment [...]

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Behavior and the Achievement Gap

November 16, 2011

In lamenting the achievement gaps between the races, researchers Reihan Salam and Tino Sanandaji discuss the work of James Heckman, an economics professor believes the key to narrowing the gaps lie in early childhood intervention. Specifically, the interventions should focus on instilling appropriate behavior among “disadvantaged” children, such as impulse control and following the rules. [...]

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Asians and ‘Diversity’

November 16, 2011

It’s well documented that students of Asian descent are held to the highest standards in admissions. Most recently, Princeton professor Thomas Espenshade released a study that showed the extent of discrimination against these students at elite colleges. Judah Bellin, a senior at Cornell, writes: “It’s hard to deny that the admissions process is stacked against [...]