WASHINGTON – As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to soon hear the case about whether race should be allowed to be used in college admissions, the attendant debate has caused many to lose sight of the broader purpose of higher education.
That was the criticism that Harvard law professor Lani Guinier levied Thursday during a panel discussion titled “Will Affirmative Action in College Admission Survive.”
Guinier was joined on the panel by Ward Connerly, a former University of California Regent and a longtime critic of race-conscious affirmative action.
Guinier said too much weight has been given to college entrance exam scores and public opinion about the merits of race-conscious affirmative action.
“We’re measuring the wrong thing in the way that we’re admitting everybody,” Guinier said. “We’re having this conversation that’s provoked by people’s objection to race-based affirmative action and we’re claiming that people of color are the problem.”
In reality, she said, people of color are “the opportunity for us to see what really works in higher education.”
“What is it that we want our graduates of color from law school or Ph.D. programs to be able to do in service to our democracy?” Guinier asked, questioning whether it was to “get the highest test scores” and “make a lot of money.”
