An Appearance of Discrimination
So:
Is it self-imposed marginalization or institutional ineptitude? Organizational discrimination, or personal hubris? At least one, and perhaps several or all of these phenomena must be behind the dramatic decline in minority admissions to UC; without answers to the questions posed above, it is impossible to say which. It is clear, however, that while the end of affirmative action was a significant trigger, it was not the underlying cause of the problem, and reinstituting affirmative action in the admissions process will serve only to mask once again the true nature of our failure to embrace traditional outcasts into the mainstream of American culture.
© Copyright 1997, 2005, Augustus P. Lowell