Faculty diversity

Reader John Richardson directed my attention to this article by John Leo from townhall.com about a new study on the consequences of race-based college admissions. The study considers why there aren’t more black and Hispanic college professors. According to Leo, the study finds the major reason to be that affirmative action is steering minority group members to colleges they are not really qualified to attend. Thus, although black and Hispanic colege seniors are about as likely as their white counterparts to want to become professors, they are less likely to attend graduate school due to low grades and lack of self-confidence. Leo points out that it may be difficult for supporters of racial preferences to attack the study because it was sponsored by the liberal Mellon Foundation and the presidents of the eight Ivy League schools. Instead, we can expect colleges to counter the problem identified by the study through more grade inflation and stronger preferential admission programs for minorities at the graduate school level.