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Writer's pictureJoanne Jacobs

Yale changes admissions, avoids bias lawsuit

Elite colleges have "rolled out new application questions this fall to provide students with opportunities to discuss their racial identities while complying with the Supreme Court decision" banning race-conscious admissions, reports Liam Knox on Inside Higher Ed.


Yale University

Yale applicants can choose one of three new essay prompts, he writes. "They can describe a community they feel a strong connection to, discuss how an element of their personal experience has shaped them or reflect on a conversation with someone who holds different viewpoints than they do."


I can just imagine Joe Biden's essay on how he was raised in the black, Jewish, Puerto Rican, Greek, Polish and Italian community.


Students for Fair Admissions, which brought the affirmative action cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, dropped its lawsuit against Yale this week, after the university agreed to change its admissions policies, writes Knox.


Yale will make the ban on considering race clear to admissions staff, ensure that those making decisions will not access data on the racial identity of individual applicants and ensure that race is not a factor in financial aid offers.


Yale also will change recruitment to “expand outreach” and “build a culture of belonging," the university declared. In addition to recruiting students from lower-income families and high-poverty areas, Yale will launch a college-prep summer program for "underrepresented" students and strengthen "pipeline programs for New Haven public high school students."


We'll see how it works out. I wonder how many students will choose to stress their openness to considering other viewpoints. Will Asian Americans still feel the need to seem less Asian?

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Richard Rider
Richard Rider
Sep 17, 2023

For decades I've suggested to white and Asian admissions applicants that they should simply LIE in their essay about "How I overcame [whatever]." Make it seem like you are black (use the right buzzwords and back story). Single parent family, violent neighborhood, rampant drug use by classmates, etc. After all, it's ILLEGAL for the college admissions staff to factcheck your essay (it could reveal one's race, gender, etc.).

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Richard Rider
Richard Rider
Sep 19, 2023
Replying to

My wife is from South Dakota. I wanted her to consider listing our biological son of Austrian/Jewish descent as an American Indian -- "native American," if you prefer. Surely somewhere along the line some such Indian had carnel relations with one of her ancestors who moved to SD in the 1850's or so. No sale. Probably a wise decision on her part. My judgment and prevarication skills have always been suspect.

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Richard Rider
Richard Rider
Sep 16, 2023

This is just a transparent workaround -- designed to reveal to the admissions staff the downtrodden, minority status of an applicant. In CA, our UC system has employed a similar ruse to PRETEND that they are not considering race. It's a hoax. One of my most satisfying days was when I informed my woke alma mater (UNC-CH) that I would never give them a dime. And that was in 1973! And yes, I give a lot to my favored charities -- we control our rather large CRT (charitable remainder trust) plus a "regular" charity fund. The biggest recipients are libertarian-leaning think tanks -- THAT'S our contribution to education.

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Guest
Sep 16, 2023
Replying to

The expert testimony showed that, at Harvard, the affirmative admission program hurt poor blacks because poor blacks got exactly the same "tip" or "plus up" as rich blacks. In other words, if one was given a black tip, then one could not also get the poor tip.

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Guest
Sep 16, 2023

Unless universities are fully transparent in their admissions process along with being open on who got in and who did not get in, everyone will suspect that race-based admissions are occurring.

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