Although the Supreme Court endorsed affirmative action in its 2003 decision on the Michigan case, it did so in a narrow and qualified way. Race could be used as a factor in admissions decisions, but points couldn’t be assigned to students based on their race. Applicants would have to be evaluated individually on how they would contribute to a diverse student body.
Dougherty says his students “ended up rediscovering the Michigan dilemma all over again. How do you value diversity without being able to count it in some way?” he says. “We haven’t really answered that, but we have a lot more respect now for the process.”
Student Chelsey Stewart says the assignment made her reconsider how she feels about the importance of SAT scores, which she had dismissed previously. Without test scores, she says, “it’s kind of hard to distinguish between two people who are exactly the same in everything else or who have similar grades.” Stewart, a Black ballet dancer who grew up in Hartford, empathized with the fictional White student who sued over the admissions process because “we didn’t have set criteria for what diversity was. It was really hard trying to see who should get admitted,” she says. “I’m still really surprised how I got into Trinity.”
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