The Supreme Court Struck down so-called “affirmative action” in 2023. The policy was a mainstay of U.S. colleges and universities. The idea was created in the 1960s when President John F. Kennedy, in response to growing positive sentiment toward civil rights for blacks, decided to create the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity in 1961. In an accompanying executive order, Kennedy used the phrase “affirmative action” to describe the actions he thought American institutions should take to actively correct perceived or real racial imbalances and discrimination.
It took off like wildfire in the liberal university world. In practice, affirmative action meant that schools were admitting black and other minority students at higher rates than before, even though many or most could not meet the same standards as other students who were admitted. Yes, meaning white students. Affirmative action became so entrenched in American culture that questioning whether it was right or fair to let academically sub-par students into schools (thereby depriving more capable applicants because they were white) would get a person accused of racism. But then again, what common sense statement doesn’t provoke accusations of racism anymore?
American colleges were doing the Ibram X. Kendi program long before Ibram Henry Rogers (his real name) came along with his racist agenda that he called “anti-racist.” Kendi famously wrote that “the only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.” Yes, that’s right. He really did write that. More surprising is how many millions of allegedly sensible Americans went right along with it, agreeing that it was a moral good to discriminate against white people in order to preferentially advance black people.
The name for this practice is “racism.”
It will take years before colleges truly end race-based admissions, if they ever really do, which seems doubtful. It’s stupidly easy to get around the ban on affirmative action by relabeling the practice and playing dumb. Robert VerBruggen, writing in City Journal, discusses how universities can easily continue to favor minority-ethnic applicants by using different language, and by tweaking recruiting methods. For example:
At a minimum, top colleges responding to an affirmative-action ban could be expected to expand recruiting efforts and expand preferences for low-income applicants. More aggressively, they might extensively calibrate their socioeconomic preferences to target blacks and Hispanics—such as giving a boost to kids who come from single-parent families or who speak a language other than English at home.
But at least one new college is taking meritocracy seriously; the University of Austin. Over the weekend on 60 Minutes, they profiled that school, which admits on MEI: Merit, Excellence, and Intelligence.
To quote from 60 Minutes:
In a former Texas department store, the University of Austin, known as UATX, started classes this fall with a say-anything, shout-nothing philosophy. UATX’s motto is “the pursuit of truth.”
The school swaps DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — for what some call MEI: merit, excellence and intelligence. UATX, co-founded by historian Niall Ferguson, launched with a focus on encouraging free speech and open debate.
“University forms the way you think about the world for the rest of your life,” Ferguson said. “If our universities are screwed up, and I believe they are, then that will screw up America as a whole quite quickly.”
Faculty members and advisers to the school are an ideological mix including Larry Summers, Steven Pinker, Deirdre McCloskey, Leon Kass, Jonathan Haidt, Glenn Loury, Joshua Katz, Tyler Tyler, Richard Dawkins, among many others.
Give the segment a watch for yourself – it’s something you won’t see at any other colleges in America, with few exceptions.
X users were quick to point out that it should not be controversial to have an admissions policy that prioritizes competence and intelligence.
Most reactions were positive:
