Debating Affirmative Action: Ideology or Data?

by | January 18, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Just Plain Interesting | 1 comment

The current issue of the Stanford Law Review has an empirical
analysis of the impact of affirmative action in law school admissions
on black students, written by UCLA Law Professor Richard Sander,
which concludes that the
“costs of preferential admissions appear
to substantially outweigh the benefits.”  Sander’s thrust
is that black law students would perform better, achieve higher class
ranking, and pass the bar at greater rates, were they to attend less
prestigious schools.

Can you say "incendiary?"  That’s why the debate hosted by Legal Affairs between Sander and my good friend and colleague
Associate Professor William Henderson of Indiana University Law School/Bloomington
is such an important one, and why Bill’s opening point (in what is
a remarkably civilized discussion) is essential to approaching the
issue:

I don’t think the legal academy will reach any constructive conclusions on your study until we are capable of having exchanges that are driven primarily by data rather than ideology.

Wouldn’t a “data-driven” debate of this issue of consummate public importance be fascinating? I personally don’t have much optimism it can be pulled off, but all of you who care about this issue deserve to take a look and understand the contours of the evidence.

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1 Comment

  1. Cicero
    Cicero on January 20, 2005 at 11:54 pm

    When we were in school in Europe the best schools did not have set asides nor quotas nor any other specific fidling with admissions. Also true for grades and graduation. There were, of course, students of every sort in the system. They were, however, the ones who belonged there. We were possibly the sole exception.

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