Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
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As President Obama encouraged Americans to push back “against bigotry in all its forms” during his remarks commemorating the 150th anniversary of the 13th Amendment Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made waves with his remarks about the abilities of African-American students in this country during the oral arguments of the Fisher vs. University of Texas at Austin case.
Referencing what is commonly known as the mismatch theory ― the idea that by admitting students of color through affirmative action an institution is actually setting these students up for failure, because they will inevitably fail to meet the stringent academic standards set by the institutions ― Scalia said, “There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less advanced school, a … slower track school where they do well.”
Scalia went on to allude to the high success rate of historically Black institutions in graduating African-Americans in critical fields, saying, “One of the briefs pointed out that most of the the Black scientists in this country don’t come from schools like the University of Texas. They come from lesser schools where they do not feel that they’re being pushed ahead in classes that are too fast for them.”
Scalia then went on to suggest that “Maybe [the University of Texas] ought to have fewer [Black students,” not more, because “maybe … when you take more, the number of Blacks, really competent Blacks admitted to lesser schools, turns out to be less. … I don’t think it stands to reason that it’s a good thing for the University of Texas to admit as many Blacks as possible.”
Northeastern University doctoral candidate and a frequent writer on race Theodore R. Johnson III called this theory “incomplete at best.”
“According to the theory, students receiving racial preferences for admission are unprepared for the academic rigors and, as a result, are more likely to change majors or drop out,” Johnson said. “This may be true, but it doesn’t account at all for the support structure of the university for minority students. If there are no black faculty members, advisors, or academic counselors, then it’s almost to be expected that black students with little descriptive representation in the university are more likely to struggle in rigorous majors.”
“This isn’t a commentary on the intellect of the students, but the lack of representation at the university,” he added.
