The end of college racial quotas is already making America more just

New York Post ^ | Feb. 7, 2026, 10:10 a.m. ET | Post Editorial Board

[E. Pluribus Unum]

At least one aspect of US higher education is shifting back toward sanity: The Supreme Court has successfully killed blatant racial quotas in college admissions, a boon to all students.

Yes, lefties are dismayed that black and Latino enrollment is down at the highest tier of American universities, but that ignores serious good news: Academic “mismatch” is over as students of all races are now going to the schools they are best qualified for.

The Hispanic and African-American teens who no longer get waved into Yale or MIT don’t simply sit at home or take a burger-flipping job; they head for excellent public universities or private second-tier colleges, where their admission rates have gone up significantly.

What exactly is the mismatch now being unwound? Essentially, as colleges made having more black and Latino students a vital measure of their (supposed) virtue, they quietly adopted extreme admissions preferences in the name of fueling “campus diversity.”

To be clear, this went far beyond affirmative action — that is, giving a slight break to certain categories of applicants on the margins.

No: It was wholesale, blatant discrimination, with the “favored” kids averaging markedly lower academic preparedness than the “disfavored” ones; in other words, an Asian-American applicant had to score hundreds of points higher on the SATs than an otherwise-similar black one to have any hope of admission.

Incidentally, this didn’t produce much economic diversity: The Hispanics and African-Americans who benefited tended to come from higher-income backgrounds, not poor ones.

Yes, the whites and Asians who lost out could still go to fine colleges; that wasn’t the worst injustice.

But the social engineers didn’t consider the effect of putting under-qualified students into the hypercompetitive hothouse environment of the Ivies and comparable institutions, where they’d go up against some indisputably brilliant and better-prepared classmates.

Consider a talented...

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TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: education; quotas; race

[E. Pluribus Unum]

For fifty years, the only people it was legal to discriminate against were straight, white males, and discrimination against them was required by law.

Prove me wrong.

[Jonty30]

I can explain that.

1. First year students subsidize everybody, because the universities get to keep the tuition of those who drop, but they cost less because they don’t finish. By population the first year by unqualified students, you end up with a bunch of money that can pay for things but no student to teach.

2. By basing it on race, liberals were able to push conservatives out because conservative whites were most likely able to compete against liberal whites in academia, so removing conservative whites helps protect the economic interests of the liberal whites.

[missthethunder]

Bookmark

[irishjuggler]

I do think that the SCOTUS ruling against affirmative action has helped level the playing field to *some* extent... but there’s still a long way to go. The admissions offices are likely still very left-leaning, and there’s not a doubt in my mind that at most selective college the process is still highly politicized and a lot of social engineering is still happening.

I say all this based on the experiences of a family member who’s battling the college admissions racket now and has classmates that being admitted places and not admitted other places. A lot of top-tier colleges have started summer programs aimed at recruiting “under privileged” (and in most cases non-white) kids. So maybe that kid gets in to Big Shot U. while a white male kid with better grades and test scores doesn’t get in. But if questioned about by the Justice Dept or in any future ligitation, the admissions department can say, “Well, it’s NOT on account of race that we admitted under qualified minority kid; no, no, not at all. Rather we we admitted her because she did our summer program and proved to be a good fit at our school.”

[CharlesOConnell]

Thos. Sowell appearing days ago at 95 says don’t count Affirmative Action out. It will just morph with a different name.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

The irony is that those, of whatever race, who don't make the cut for college, might
have a happier life on a trades oriented path. It could be a gift and a leg up.

[OrangeHoof]

More just what?

[nathanbedford]

The distribution of goods and services in the Soviet Union was corrupt in its conception and thoroughly corrupt in practice. Indeed, a black market actually served as a way of rationalizing and rendering more democratic a system that unfairly mismanaged assets. In other words, the corruption was institutionalized by the Soviet government itself, and the black market mitigated the harm.

For years now, we have seen the institutionalization of discrimination done by the universities themselves. In other words, the corrupt distribution of valuable places was systematized.

A few years ago, we saw high-profile Hollywood parents being prosecuted for subverting the admission systems on behalf of their children.

I think we have to be careful when we attempt to justify one wrong deed by pointing to other wrongful actions. However, it might be appropriate to ask, were these Hollywood parents morally justified in beating a corrupt system by corrupt means? If they were not justified, may we not at least ask whether it was the duty of government to support that corrupt admissions system by prosecuting parents who beat the system corruptly?

When we institutionalize corruption, we will inevitably spawn mavericks who devise a black market to beat that system. Isn't the more dangerous corruption in the institution?

Do we always prosecute the right wrongdoers?

[Bikkuri]

They keep changing the name...

[Chickensoup]

Sowell spoke about this 35 years ago.

I attribute the anger and rage of Obamas and other prominent minorities to this mismatch.

They are permanently behind, know it, hate it, and are enraged.

[yldstrk]

The Hispanic and African-American teens who no longer get waved into Yale or MIT
***********
Good lord, it’s “waived” not “waved”.

[yldstrk]

None of the Ivy League is worth it. Only if you want to train to be a nutcase.

[yldstrk]

A few years ago, we saw high-profile Hollywood parents being prosecuted for subverting the admission systems on behalf of their children.
***********
I remember the morning the story came out, all of us attorneys in municipal court saying things like “I guess my parents didn’t love me, they kicked me out age 18” or “my parents gave me $20 a week to help with college”.

[cgbg]

Now for the next step—all the wealthy universities need to take half of their endowments and give it to white male students whose applications they rejected in the past sixty years.

Reparations now!

[A_perfect_lady]

It was a money-maker. Let in unqualified minorities, get them in debt, take that money, let them drop out, keep the money.

[A_perfect_lady]

Good lord, it’s “waived” not “waved”.

They could have meant waved, like a traffic cop waving you through a check point.

[yldstrk]

Good lord, it’s “waived” not “waved”.
*********
They could have meant waved, like a traffic cop waving you through a check point.
*********
Oh, fair point.

[antidemoncrat]

This is how I see it. Blacks’ genetics give them the muscle growth to allow them to dominate most sports organizations. On the other hand they don’t to seem to command the higher order thinking required to become geniuses like Tesla, Edison or whoever. The along comes DEI. Sponsored, I believe, by the government Deep State who wants to be in charge forever but can’t until the really talented people are controlled. This puts people in control of programs that they are not capable of controlling but keeps people who could succeed out of the picture and out of control.

[Myrddin]

Gaining admission to a school where you are greatly overmatched by the other students in the classroom is not a "win". The admission process may give you a pass to get into the school. Your classmates will not. The academic environment is cut-throat. If you can't compete, you will be pushed out with poor grades and frustration.

[irishjuggler]

I agree, but I’m talking about what’s going on at most of the whole category of “selective” colleges... e.g., places that would rank in lists of the “top 50”