New York Times: Could 'adversity scores' replace affirmative action nationwide?

quote:

---

To build a diverse class of students,

---

quote:

---

diverse class of students

---

quote:

---

For the reasons provided above, the Harvard and UNC admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guaran- tees of the Equal Protection Clause. Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative man- ner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points. We have never permitted admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today. At the same time, as all parties agree, nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race af- fected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspira- tion, or otherwise. See, e.g., 4 App. in No. 21–707, at 1725– 1726, 1741; Tr. of Oral Arg. in No. 20–1199, at 10. But, despite the dissent’s assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today. (A dissent- ing opinion is generally not the best source of legal advice on how to comply with the majority opinion.) “[W]hat can- not be done directly cannot be done indirectly. The Constitution deals with substance, not shadows,” and the prohibition against racial discrimination is “levelled at the thing, not the name”

---

quote:

---

Overcoming adversity is nice and all but we are assigning some weird aspect of nobility to poverty that we really shouldn’t.

---