Like many Americans, Kenyatta Rowel is not entirely comfortable with racial preferences in college admissions. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore sophomore from Annapolis says he'd prefer affirmative action in higher education to be based on socioeconomic disadvantage rather than race. < SNIP > Giving an admissions edge to poor college applicants is appealing because it would seem to accomplish the double goal of increasing racial diversity - because many African-Americans and Latinos are clustered low on the economic ladder - while also helping poor white students who are left behind in race-based affirmative action. But a series of studies...