Race and College Admissions Research Paper

Introduction

This paper aims to appraise the document submitted to the United States Supreme Court by the American Sociological Association (ASA) on a Michigan Law School case. This paper presents a summary of the argument maintained by the ASA. This paper further presents an argument on race's relevance by college admissions officers in deciding whom to accept into a college.

Ethnic and racial diversity in the student body is considered a valuable educational experience in American higher education. This diversity is also regarded as a means of rectifying the problems caused by the unfair discrimination exhibited against certain groups of people. Due to the low representation of racial and ethnic minority groups in many institutions' student bodies, some admission policies have made allowances for racial preference to be used as an admission criterion to encourage more minority students' admission. But using racial or ethnic preference as an admission criterion to benefit a group of people at the expense of others raises the issue of unlawful "reverse" discrimination. The defining characteristic of an admission policy is the consideration of academic ability, along with an evaluation of the applicant's talents, experiences, and the potential to contribute to others' learning. An admission policy requests an applicant's evaluation based on all relevant information submitted in the application file. In considering an applicant for admission, admissions officials will examine the applicant's undergraduate grade point average and, for law school, a Law School Admissions Test result. These results though imperfect, are a significant predictor of academic success (Uerling, 2004).

Admission policies regulate the admission process by stating that only applicants expected to excel in the school should be admitted. The policy might also set other educational objectives beyond grade point averages and test scores by which applicants will be adjudged. Other factors are further used to decide by the admissions officials, factors such as the persons recommending the applicant to the institution, the quality of the undergraduate institution from which the applicant graduated, the quality of the applicant's essay, and the applicant's undergraduate course selection are all considered in determining if the applicant will contribute in some meaningful way to the institution (Uerling, 2004).

Facts of the case

In 1977, Barbara Grutter, a Caucasian resident of Michigan, applied for admission to the University of Michigan Law School with a 3.8 undergraduate GPA and 161 LSAT score, but she was denied admission. The school admitted that she had not received the admission due to racial reasons. The school uses racial preference as an admission criterion to achieve diversity among the student body. The district court, which presided over the court case that arose due to this issue, ruled that the law school's interest in achieving racial diversity among the student body was not a compelling factor to be used during the admission process and enjoined the school's use of race in the admissions process. At the Court of Appeals to which the case was appealed, the court held that the opinion of Justice Powell on the establishment of racial diversity as a compelling governmental interest in Regents of the University of California vs. Valle,438 U.S. 265 (1978) constitutes a binding precedent to justify the use of racial preference as an admission criterion (Oyez, 2003).

Summary and key elements of the document presented by the ASA to the United States Supreme Court

In early September of the year 2002, the ASA developed an amicus brief on the Council's authority in response to a member resolution approved at the ASA's business meeting that same year. The brief contained a summary of sociological research, which discusses the need to consider race as an admission criterion for college admissions. The…

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…is the partnering of graduate and professional schools with institutions that serve a high percentage of students of color (such as historically black schools, community colleges, and Hispanic Serving Institutions) and offering racially-targeted scholarships and mentoring programs to interest minority students in pursuing a graduate or professional degree. For institutions in which race-conscious practices are legally permissible, any of these strategies can be implemented to satisfy any legal scrutiny (Graces, 2009).

Another method of increasing student body diversity beyond setting racial preference as an admission criterion is, offering programs such as racially-targeted scholarships and minority -based learning communities. These programs eliminate the need for population quotas and, as such, any need for legal arguments on the matter. Scholarship programs for which only a select group of eligible people are not constitutionally impermissible and do not employ a quota system. However, a learning community for which an admission criterion is a racial heritage may not be constitutionally acceptable. This would create a quota system that will hinder other racial groups from joining the learning community. But advocates of such programs can provide an acceptable reason for such a learning community. An argument can be brought up that minority students excel in academic programs tailored to attend to their specific learning needs (Uerling, 2004).

Conclusion

This paper supports the argument of race being a considering factor in the college admissions process. The argument which supports this claim is based on increasing diversity in the educational system and allowing students to grow in other ways beyond academically by creating new world views from new interactions. The promotion of fairness and equality has also supported this claim as life experiences are taken into account. While this paper supports the consideration of race as a qualifying factor for college admissions, this paper also advocates considering a student's assets to determine admissions eligibility.…