Ep. 6 (The A-Side): Race Matters After Admissions: Equality Requires Diversity

#RaceClass Ep. 6, Part A | Race Matters After Admissions: Equality Requires Diversity

#RaceClass is launching a 6-part series on affirmative action. But we’re taking an unconventional turn. Rather than focus on affirmative action itself, we’re exploring how *race matters* before affirmative action arrives. Specifically, we’ll ask how race mattersbefore, during, and after university admissions. Why? Because we can’t know affirmative action until we know the backdrop it intervenes against.

To kick things off, we explore how racial diversity serves a key equality function. Specifically, racial diversity safeguards each student’s right to enjoy the benefits of university membership. Put differently, when white students are over-represented on a college campus, that demographic reality – coupled with pervasive presumptions about who “belongs” – creates a “racial preference” for white students. One might say affirmative action, by buffering against that over-representation, promotes racial equality on campus.

Next episode, Dr. Evelyn Carter joins us to dive deeper into the science of diversity and equality. Join us!