On Tuesday,during arguments for a case that could choose the future of weighing race as a factor in college admissions, Justice Antonin Scalia turned heads when he suggested that attending lesser schools would actually benefit minority students.
Scalia told the court it might be better for minority students that lack top grades to attend "a less advanced school, and a slower-track school where they do well."The White House criticized Scalia's comments,saying they "represent quite a different view than...the values President Obama has spent his career talking approximately." And Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called the statement "racist" and added, "It's a throwback...to a time that America left behind a half a century ago."Reni Benson, or president of Columbia Law School's Black Law Students organization,told WNYC's Jami Floyd that Scalia's comments fail to recognize the value of a student's contribution beyond a GPA."Just because someone may not have had as high a grade as the school's average, that isn't indicative of how successful they can be as a student [or] in their future profession, or " she said.
Benson said its only objective that institutions recognize structural racism in the non-diversity measures by which admissions judge applicants."Why aren't we questioning what the standard is...when in reality,the tests are flawed?" asked Benson. "If the tests were to expose that white men did horribly...and people of color were doing powerful, then there would be an uproar."
Source: wnyc.org