Robert Jenkins is wrong in his assumption that 20 points for race does not make a difference in college admissions ("Lala doesn't get affirmative action" SN 2/9). At The University of Michigan, where 20 points was the exact amount used for racial preferences, the difference between a 3.0 and a 4.0 grade-point average also was 20 points. This means a minority student with a 2.9 GPA would be compared equally to a white student with a 3.9 GPA. These points applied even if both had similar financial backgrounds and attended the same high school.
A study by the Center for Equal Opportunity found that a black student was 174 times more likely to be admitted to U-M than an identical white student. Furthermore, a white student with a 3.3 GPA and a 1020 SAT score had a 34 percent chance of admission to Michigan, while an identical black student had a 99 percent chance of admission.
Clearly, candidates unsuited for the academic rigor of their chosen institution are being accepted. What is the result of this? Minority students typically have the lowest graduation rate of any group on campus.
In California, where race preferences have been banned, minority enrollment at the most selective universities has dropped, but minority graduation rates at other universities has increased. What good does it do to drop out of the University of California at Berkeley when you can graduate from the University of California at Santa Cruz?
Simply put, affirmative action reduces the likelihood of black students graduating.
I oppose affirmative action the way it is currently structured because it hurts, not helps, minority students. Affirmative action needs to be restructured to be more equitable in its treatment of all people. Students (of all colors) who have had serious setbacks in life should be awarded "points" to compensate for the effect this might have had on their high school grades.
However, it is obvious that this is not happening. The result of this is a system that keeps whites from attending universities they are qualified to attend while admitting minority students - causing them to have a less likely chance of graduating than at another university. It is an empirical fact that, when affirmative action has been discontinued, minority graduation rates as a whole increase. These higher graduation rates will, in turn, lead to more alumni preferences being granted to black applicants to universities.
The best solution for our country to decrease the racial divide is to do away with judging people based on their race.
Christopher Miller
international relations sophomore
