NAS Blog

Princeton’s Russ Nieli has an illuminating essay on Minding the Campus entitled “How Diversity Punishes Asians, Poor Whites and Lots of Others.” It absolutely knocks the stuffing out of the contention we hear so often from college administrators that their reason for using certain preferences is that a more “diverse” student body will enhance learning and break down stereotypes. If they actually wanted to do that, they would look for students who really do bring different beliefs and perspectives and would drop the bias Nieli shows against students from military families, those who have been active in groups like 4H, and so on. They aren’t looking for Justice Powell’s phantom “educational benefits of diversity” but are merely looking to fill quotas.

Nieli advocates that elite colleges get over their diversity mania and follow what he calls the Cal Tech model: focus on enrolling students who are the most academically talented and the most eager to learn.