Rice and Powell are wrong.
All those things you mentioned, as bad as they are, are race nuetral. And those factors are never considered as a means to the end of diversifying a student body anyway.
Maybe Rice didn't suggest diversfication would be the goal by considering race to be a factor, but it would be impossible let someone in because of race without denying someone else just because they aren;t the right color.
To tell someone just because they are the wrong ethnic background or wrong color that they are not allowed to attend then you are making an unconstitutional arguement.
Maybe Rice and Powell would like to speak to a group of white high school kids, in person, and tell them they might have to accept being denied admission to college because of their skin color or ethnic background.
DO THEY HAVE THE GUTS FOR THIS???
(1) We don't let in someone with lower academic scores over someone else because of their "athletic" background.
(2) We don't let in someone with lower academic scores over someone else because daddy was an alumnus.
(3) We don't let in someone with lower academic scores over someone else because they participated in a number of clubs and activities.
As far as I am concerned, all of those are equally as "bad" as wanting someone for their ethnic background.
I have already said that I am against quotas, and against choosing for or against people for skin color. But if a school is willing to accept applicants with lower test and grade scores on other factors, then it is hard to argue - well, those factors are okay but ethnicity is not.