I am disappointed to see that The State News has given such a prominent place and uncritical treatment of the recently released “study” by the Center for Equal Opportunity ( “Study: med college racist,” SN 6/14).

Your article reports the findings of this report with little or no critical analysis of the data or the organization that produced it. The Center for Equal Opportunity is an organization that’s sole purpose is to oppose affirmative action, and its legal counsel, Roger Clegg - who is quoted in the article - also specializes in opposing affirmative action.

As for the use of data in the article, numbers have very little meaning when taken out of context. Assuming it is true that “more than 3,500 nonblack students were rejected from the colleges, despite having better test scores and grades,” what proportion of the total number of “nonblack” students does 3,500 represent? Is there any proof these students were rejected solely because of skin color? What is the racial composition of the student body in the schools studied? The article does not answer these questions and gives only scant attention to the rationales for affirmative action.

I’ll admit I’m inclined to favor affirmative action and to oppose the funneling of money away from public education and into a bogus “drug war,” the prison industry and the privatization of schools. However, bias or point of view is not the issue. In a newspaper, even those who abhor affirmative action have a responsibility to respect their readers’ intelligence, evaluate the sources of their data and present that data in a meaningful way.

Jessica DeForest
history graduate student