Admissions Policy Lawsuit:
Affirmative Action Debate
Tom Weisskopf's Statement on Affirmative Action 11/25/97
by Thomas E. WeisskopfDate: November 25, 1997
As Director of the Residential College at the University of Michigan I welcome intellectual diversity on the part of our faculty and students, and I encourage the expression of diverse views on issues of public interest as well as on matters of scholarly analysis. In this context, I fully respect the right of my RC colleague, Professor Carl Cohen, to criticize the University's affirmative action policies and to support the lawsuit recently filed against the University's admission policies.
I wish to state unequivocally, however, that I do not share Professor Cohen's views on these matters and that these views do not reflect the policy of the Residential College. I believe that affirmative action -- in the form of preferences in admission policies for groups of students whose common group identity exposes them to disadvantageous treatment -- is both morally right and in the best interest of educational institutions.
Admission to the University of Michigan should not simply be a reward for the achievement of high grade point averages or high standardized test scores. Instead, admission should be based on the potential to make use of a university education to develop one's talents and abilities to a high level of accomplishment by the time of graduation and to enhance the well-being of society in one's post-graduate career.
It is an undeniable fact that people of color in the United States still face disadvantages in their opportunities and life chances simply because of how others respond to their color. As a consequence, it takes more talent and/or more resourcefulness on the part of people of color to reach any given level of educational achievement (as conventionally measured). In order to estimate the true potential of students applying for admission to a college or university, one must therefore give greater credit than reflected in grades and test scores to students of color -- to recognize the extent to which they have had to apply greater talent and resourcefulness to overcome the obstacles they have confronted. Color-blind admission policies, far from being fair and just, actually discriminate against students of color.
When color truly makes little difference to one's life chances in this country, the University of Michigan should dispense with affirmative action and adopt color-blind admission policies. Until then, we should neither be surprised nor upset to discover that the average grades and test scores of admitted students of color are lower than the average for white students. Such observations do not alter the reality that these students of color have just as much potential for high levels of achievement and are no less qualified members of our University community than their white fellow students.