During the last couple of decades, colleges and universitieshave tried to increase their number of minority students by variousforms of affirmative action. At Campus X, this has led to no smallamount of dissension. Some students complain that the policy ofaccepting students with lower SAT and other scores just because oftheir race or minority status is unfair. Others believe that thediversity that results from such policies is good for everyonebecause we should learn to live together and a university campusshould be a place to do this. Still, there is some question, evenamong members of this group, as to how well the integration isworking. Furthermore, a different type of problem has recentlysurfaced. Because Asian Americans were represented in numbersgrater than their percentage of the population, some universitieswere restricting the percentage of the population they would accepteven when their scores were higher than others they did accept.Also, in some cases where affirmative action has been eliminated,the number of minority members accepted into certain medical andlaw schools has plummeted, and many people find this alarming.
Do you think that diversity ought to be a goal of campusadmissions?
Or do you believe that only academic qualifications ought tocount? Why?
