Furthermore, this specific point system in question was ruled unconstitutional and is no longer in use.
It's also possible that admissions numbers didn't change a lot because "holistic" admissions discovered previously unmeasurable mitigating factors for blacks having low SAT/grades/etc.
And in yet another major coincidence, these systems also discovered that Asians are inferior in similarly unquantifiable ways, resulting in Asians who are admitted having SAT scores 450 pts higher than blacks and 140 pts higher than whites.
I don't find this particularly likely, however. Do you?
This is an interesting case. In fact, you do have to admit there's a secret conspiracy, for the simple reason that "correcting for the effects of structural racism" is illegal for public colleges, and they therefore never formally admit to that justification. You're correct, though, that that is how they are generally perceived by the public and how their executives generally think about what they're doing, as far as we can tell. I think that's a pretty good match to the concept of "conspiracy".
No, its not.
Certain mechanisms might be (whether or not they have that purpose), but pursuing that purpose is not.
2. You are incorrect on the law to say "whether or not they have that purpose"; race discrimination in admissions is legal (for public schools) when performed for an academic purpose such as "to increase classroom diversity", and illegal when performed to "correct for the effects of structural racism". This is the root cause of the talismanic promotion of "diversity" today. The school's stated purpose is relevant to whether their action is legal or illegal. (If you think this is a travesty, I couldn't agree more. It's still the law.)
2b. Interestingly, some methods of race discrimination (speaking generally, the objective ones) have been found to be illegal regardless of stated purpose. That's a separate issue.
And minority enrollment tends to decline in states where affirmative action is banned, so I don't think there are any conspiracies involved: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/06/24/us/affirmative...
Specifically, the motivation "correct the effects of structural racism" is illegal when a public school is engaging in affirmative action. Affirmative action is generally legal, as long as you have a legal motive.
It turns out, though, that it's really easy for people to lie about their motives.