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is the case of Bakke vs. Univer sity of California nears the Su preme Court, the liberals who still dominate our educational system and thus determine (among many other things) who shall have the opportunity for a higher education are turning up for their final concert. The number they propose to play is billed as an old favorite, but actually it is a brand new song. Bakke, you will recall, is the white student whose application for admission to the medical school of the University of California (Davis) was twice rejected in favor of less qualified black applicants who got in through a special-admission pro gram available only to members of minority groups. The notably liberal Supreme Court of California amazed many observers by ruling in favor of Bakke, on the grounds that he had been denied that equal protection of the laws enjoined by the 14th amendment. The university had been guilty of reverse discrimination. The university's hopes of obtain ing a reversal in the U.S. Supreme Court probably depend on persuad ing the court this is simply another instance of the familiar proposition that admission to a college or graduate school need not be predi cated solely on the applicant’s narrowly academic qualifications, i. e., his marks in school or in an aptitude test. Thus stated, the contention is undeniably true. Certainly most college admission committees have always made it a point to consider more than mere grades—though grades usually are, and ought to be, a major factor. But a reasonable interest and skill in sports, a special aptitude for music or even chess, the ability of a student to get along with his peers (or, better yet, to lead them)—all of these personal factors and many others have often been taken into account in deciding who shall get that precious letter of acceptance. In addition, weight has frequent ly been given to factors over which the student had no control what ever: what part of the country he comes from, whether his father attended the same college, etc. If such factors can be taken into account without running afoul of the equal protection clause, why can't the student’s race be con sidered as well? If a college can juggle its admission policies to produce a given proportion of fe male students, Southerners or chil dren of alumni, why can't it juggle them to favor blacks over whites up to a given point? Perhaps it can, if the policy's intent and effects simply to pro duce a racial mix more representa tive of the country as a whole, or of the area from which the college's student body is drawn. The trouble is that the Big Time Integrators have no such modest intention. Their purpose is essen tially and grandly political: to en hance the status of America’s blacks to some undefined degree at the direct expense of its whites. Listen to columnist Garry Wills trying to engraft his personal pre ferences in this regard onto the American legal tradition: ‘*'...our school system has always had wider and more political aims... other factors than the highest grades can be weighed as part of society's commitment...A virtual monopoly... by white males is so cially undesirable. Political aims? Society's com mitment? Socially undesirable? These are majestic phrases, not to be slung around recklessly. More important, they are squarely politi cal. No doubt this country could, if it chose, make the elevation of the social and economic status of its black citizens, at the expense of its whites,a matter of fundamental national policy. But if and when it does, the decision will come in the form of a constitutional amendment and not by divine revelation to Wills. The betting is that the U.S. Supreme Court will agree on this important point with the Supreme Court of California. Thereafter it will be up to college admission committees to ensure that their decisions are not tainted by purely political objectives nobody has tak en the trouble to enshrine in the Constitution. , Universal Press Syndicate 1977 Copyright WE LOST A FEW GOOD BALL PLAYERS IN THE DeAT. BUT I THINKK WE WIN MORE GAMES NEXT FALL , WELL, WE'LL DO. BENER IM THE CONFERENCE...
Newspaper Details
Dallas Daily Campus
Dallas, Texas, US
Wed, Apr 20, 1977
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Roger M.
USA 01 Jul 2026
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