I am not that convinced that affirmative action policies are very important
for the struggle for racial justice, so I am not that invested in the
outcome of this case.

(The NYT presents some evidence that these policies may affect the
proportion of admitted minority students, but the most dramatic examples
are from Berkeley and UCLA during a time the UC system was going through
dramatic financial crises, so I am skeptical about a direct causal
relationship there. The evidence from other states show some effect, but
not that great:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/06/24/us/affirmative-action-bans.html
)

Nevertheless, the comments of some of these judges are quite shocking.
Forget John Roberts, try Scalia for the most outrageous quotes.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/scalia-race-affirmative-action

"It does not benefit African-Americans to -- to get them into the
University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go
to a less-advanced school, a less -- a slower-track school where they do
well."

"Most of the black scientists in this country don't come from schools like
the University of Texas. They come from lesser schools where they do not
feel that they're -- that they're being pushed ahead in -- in classes that
are too -- too fast for them"


These quotes seem like they were pulled out of The Bell Curve. It is
interesting to imagine a university administrator making these kinds of
comments - they would be fired the next day and rightly so.
-raghu.






On Thu, Dec 10, 2015 at 9:04 AM, Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. questioned the value of diversity in
> at least some academic settings. “What unique perspective does a
> minority student bring to a physics class?” he asked.
>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/10/us/politics/supreme-court-to-revisit-case-that-may-alter-affirmative-action.html
>
>
> WALTER BENN MICHAELS, AGAINST DIVERSITY
> http://newleftreview.org/II/52/walter-benn-michaels-against-diversity
>
>
> A critique of Walter Benn Michaels
> http://louisproyect.org/2009/09/04/a-critique-of-walter-benn-michaels/
> _______________________________________________
> pen-l mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
>
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