do you have a link to the "admissions content that came out in the affirmative action SCOTUS case"? That sounds very interesting. I found a report on the entire case but its near 300 pages long
Copying here actual conversation (revealed in the lawsuit) between admissions officers at UNC:
“I just opened a brown girl who’s an 810 [SAT].”
“If its brown and above a 1300 [SAT] put them in for [the] merit/Excel [scholarship].”
“Still yes, give these brown babies a shot at these merit $$.”
“I am reading an Am. Ind.”
“[W]ith these [URM] kids, I’m trying to at least give them the chance to compete even if the [extracurriculars] and essays are just average.”
“I don’t think I can admit or defer this brown girl.”
“perfect 2400 SAT All 5 on AP one B in 11th”
“Brown?!”
“Heck no. Asian.”
“Of course. Still impressive.”
“I just read a blk girl who is an MC and Park nominee.”....
“Stellar academics for a Native Amer/African Amer kid.”....
“I’m going through this trouble because this is a bi-racial (black/white) male.”
While university admissions people aren't representative of white people, they're in the class of people I had always assumed didn't see people in terms of race. I knew affirmative action was a thing, but I kind of assumed it was a mathematical, maybe computerized process. I didn't realize they were sifting through applications saying "oh, here's a hispanic, and that one's a black kid, shoot this one's an asian."
It's not just that they're not representative of an entire group of people, many aren't members of that group at all.
It's also not necessarily entirely on the admissions people - the argument made in that substack (and ultimately the conclusion of SCOTUS) is that affirmative action is a euphemism for racial discrimination.
Ultimately you have to be doing something like this somewhere if that's the policy since that's explicitly what it means, the internal comms just show the reality of the policy that's often not said in public communication (because imo it seems obviously bad to most people).
I agree the reality hits harder than the theory. I imagined this statistical and detached balancing process, not this.
“perfect 2400 SAT All 5 on AP one B in 11th”
“Brown?!”
“Heck no. Asian.”
“Of course. Still impressive.”