That may not be true in your case but it's reasonable for people to suspect that because the reality is that there are a lot of policies in place that result in circumstances whereby Blacks that would not "get in" under a "color blind" admission system do "get in."I got into OCS because I was black.
I think good insight into the existence of and effect of such policies is provided by some language in description of the testimony of Dr. Stephen Raudenbush during the Supreme Court case GRUTTER v. BOLLINGER . That's the one where the University of Michigan Law School was defending consideration of race during admissions decision. Dr. Raudenbush was testifying on behalf of the school; justifying the approach. Here is some language that can be found at http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/g ... 1#opinion1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;:
In Dr. Raudenbush's view, a race-blind admissions system would have a " 'very dramatic,' " negative effect on underrepresented minority admissions. App. to Pet. for Cert. 223a. He testified that in 2000, 35 percent of underrepresented minority applicants were admitted. Ibid. Dr. Raudenbush predicted that if race were not considered, only 10 percent of those applicants would have been admitted. Ibid. Under this scenario, underrepresented minority students would have comprised 4 percent of the entering class in 2000 instead of the actual figure of 14.5 percent. Ibid.
So the estimate was that only about 28 or 29 percent of the "underrepresented minority" students admitted to the Michigan Law School in 2000 would have been admitted if they had not been "underrepresented minority" applicants.
The policy was upheld by the Supreme Court in the case. So it's going on.
And the mentality behind the policy is ubiquitous. It's the "diversity" thing. It's why you hear that term all the time. It's the manner in which institutions impose quotas without saying they are quotas.
So the truth is that if you're a White person looking at a Black guy who gained admission to something and you had to bet on whether or not he'd have been granted admission if he wasn't Black you would do well to bet that he would not have. You'd lose some bets if you did that every time. But you'd win a lot more than you'd lose.
That, frankly, is why I think Blacks ought to oppose policies like that. If you're a Black person that would've gotten that slot in Law School or whatever anyway you have to live with the fact that it's reasonable for people to wonder if you're where you are because of policies that favored you because you're Black.










