Equality What Is the Meaning Thesis

342). All applicants should be treated equally regardless of race. Creating a more diverse student body may be an admirable goal, but it is not a legally valid one for use during the admissions process (p. 345). The Constitution does not guarantee the right to preferential treatment on the basis of past discrimination; the Constitution does, however, guarantee equally protection of the law. Court decisions have wavered over the right of institutions to actively create a more ethnically diverse student body. Just as a school might prefer an athlete over a musician for admission because of the need to bolster athletics programs, a school might also prefer a Latino over a white student because of the need to bolster the campus's Spanish-language programs or social organizations. Courts have used terms like "flexibility" to describe admissions procedures that, while not being fully blind, are also nondiscriminatory (p. 348). Institutions aware of the connection between social inequity and economic class status may also use admissions criteria that take into account financial struggles.

References

Gosepath, S. (2007). Equality. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved April 12, 2009 from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equality/…