Marta Tienda, a Wilson School professor, voiced support for affirmative action in a talk yesterday. Without it, she said, colleges cannot maintain diversity.
"It's really about values and the future we want to build," Tienda said. The benefits of racial integration and diverse student bodies at universities are almost universally recognized, she said.
Today's hearings in the University of Michigan Supreme Court case could lead to the most dramatic change in the role of race in admissions since University of California Regents v. Bakke.
"The big debate has been, since Bakke, what is the method to achieve this integration?" she asked.
Tienda rejected several alternatives to affirmative action. She described ignoring race and class in admission decisions as problematic. She also dismissed considering only class, while ignoring race.
Tienda also discussed and discarded the percent plans, currently in place in Texas, California and Florida, and supported by the White House as solutions for achieving diversity in college admissions.
Under these plans, a percentage of students from each of the state's high schools is guaranteed admission to top state universities. In Texas, the top 10 percent of graduates from each high school is guaranteed admission and in Florida the top 20 percent. In California the top four percent of each high school and the top 12.5 percent of students statewide are guaranteed admission.
"The appeal is that they build on merit. They are politically correct —a disguised form of affirmative action — and they are simple and transparent," Tienda said.
However, her research on Texas has shown that, contrary to common belief, the percent plan benefits Asian and white students the most, and African-American students the least. The program also "capitalizes on segregation," Tienda added.
The percent plan has also caused the admission rate at the University of Texas at Austin to drop from 68 percent in 1992 to 42 percent in 2003, causing enrollment to drop as well.
"The statistical evidence flies in the face of the anecdotal," Tienda said. "If we're trying to achieve educational parity in this state, then we have a long way to go."
Tienda stressed the importance of the University of Michigan case.
"The stakes are very high," she added. "Many campus administrators across the nation are terrified."
Tienda reiterated the need for affirmative action in today's society.
"With increasing segregation at the K-through-12 level, what are we going to do at the college level?" she asked. "If you want to get beyond race, you need to take race into account."
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