The Top Ten Percent admission rule looks like it’s gained some very unlikely allies – the Neo-Cons.
Yes, you read that right. On Monday, the Project on Fair
Representation announced that it had filed suit against UT Austin for going beyond the legally allowed “narrow tailoring” of admissions processes to enhance racial diversity. Calling Top Ten Percent a “race-neutral system”, the project goes on to say that the system has made the school more ethnically diverse than when it had a racial component to admissions. It doesn’t bother mentioning that UT Austin is still not actually as ethnically diverse as the state, but let’s not split hairs.
But what is the Project on Fair Representation? It describes itself as a “not-for-profit legal defense fund designed to support litigation that challenges racial and ethnic classifications and preferences in state and federal courts.” But let’s give them their full name: the Project on Fair Representation at the American Enterprise Institute. Yes, arch Neo-Cons the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, proponents of using cost-benefit analysis in business regulation, supporters of the Delay redistricting, opponents of corporate tax, and big fans of the Iraq surge.
Just to prove they don’t discriminate in their anti-anti-discrimination stance, the AEI will soon be holding a conference for debunkers of the recent National Academy of Science study that found there is a glass ceiling for women that discourages them from entering the sciences.
This article appears in July 20 • 2007.
