What Does Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Look Like?

In the popular imagination, affirmative action is an unfair policy that guarantees “unqualified” minorities and women a slot in college or a job.

This is, of course, nonsense.  Here’s what affirmative action and equal opportunity looks like at Harvard (resulting in record minority admits):

The MP and former higher education minister David Lammy suggests that part of the reason Harvard does better on race is that it writes to every high-achieving minority student. The Ivy League institution is proud of its outreach, sending admissions officers every year to schools in every US state.

Its ethnic minority recruitment is assisted by a team of undergraduates who handle campus visits and answer questions on academic life. (emphasis mine)

Yup – outreach.  That’s it.

Harvard literally sends letters to every high-achieving minority student.  Just to see if they want to go to Harvard.

I think that most people base some of their decisions about where to apply to college on which schools recruit or express an interest in them first. And Harvard is the kind of school with a reputation for being incredibly difficult to get into, so it is reasonable to assume that many high-achieving students, particularly those of color, might opt not to apply.  Sure, there may be some students who just believe they could attend Harvard and so they apply, but I’m willing to bet that a fair number of kids don’t seriously consider Harvard until Harvard expresses an interest in them.

Because then it becomes a real possibility.

And so Harvard can admit a class that is 11.8 percent African American and 12.1 percent Latino because they are simply casting so wide a net, which includes high-achieving minorities, that they are bound to be able to offer quite a few admits to … high-achieving minorities.

This is affirmative action and equal opportunity.  Outreach. Recruitment.  Seeing as many qualified people as possible and selecting from that pool.