Problem - Legal Misrepresentation re College Applications

WASHINGTON - Jan. 8, 2024 - PRLog -- Although the Supreme Court has prohibited universities from directly considering race in deciding whom to admit, it provided a gaping loophole by explaining that: "nothing in [the] opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant's discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise" - presumably as discussed in an essay or other statement submitted with an application.

With institutions of higher education so determined to maintain current high levels of admission for students from certain minorities, it has been widely and openly suggested that, while it's no longer permissible to consider which box indicating race an applicant may have checked, universities can often indirectly gleam information about race from applicant's written statements.

This tactic thus can provide a legal loophole around the ban on directly considering race.  How and why many universities are doing this is exposed in:
How Colleges Brazenly Get Around Supreme Court's Affirmative Action Ruling (https://nypost.com/2023/09/30/how-colleges-are-skirting-s...):

"It's a clever loophole: ask about race … without expressly requiring students to write about their race.  And some schools aren't even remotely subtle about their motivations. . . .  These schools are pushing the envelope as far as possible — and the federal government seems to be egging them on."

Just such a loophole is now being openly suggested if not encouraged on a widely read legal blog which pointed out:

"What, I wonder, prevents an applicant from writing a 'perspective statement' (as [Harvard Law School] calls it) that creates the impression that he or she is a racial minority, when they are not?  I imagine this will start to happen, and unless an applicant flat out lies about something, I can't see that law schools can do anything about it."

Public interest law professor John Banzhaf, who has successfully fought against cheating on exams, agrees that this new tactic would be easy to use, and that schools might not be able to do much about students using this loophole.

Banzhaf points out how easy it would be for White (or even Asian) students to make claims in their application essays which are technically true, but nevertheless misleading about their race.

So if colleges and universities are going to "brazenly get around Supreme Court's affirmative action ruling" by using as a loophole admission essays or statements to infer race, they should expect that students will likewise exploit a loophole which permit them to use such essays to mislead about their race without actually telling a lie, predicts Banzhaf.

http://banzhaf.net/   jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com   @profbanzhaf