When Professor of Philosophy Carl Cohen of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor looks at his university's anti-discrimination policy, he sees entrenched hypocrisy. The standard use of racial preference in admissions processes, he argues, is inconsistent with Michigan policy and federal law.
"How did our universities fall into such a quagmire of deceit and duplicity?" Cohen asked yesterday afternoon in the Breedlove Room at Perkins Library. "I am distressed by the hypocrisy by which my colleagues have been obliged to abide. It's not pretty and it's not seemly for a great university."
In a speech titled "Affirmative Action: Is it wise? Is it just?" sponsored by the Duke Association of Scholars, Cohen read his university's official policy to an audience of about 35 people: "The University of Michigan is committed to a policy of non-discrimination and equal opportunity for all persons regardless of race, sex, color, religion... in employment, educational programs and activities and admissions."
Cohen contends that Michigan blatantly violates this policy by giving admission preference to under-represented minorities.
His evidence, which was obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request, comprises scores of documents that show different standards for Caucasians and under-represented minorities. They helped spark several lawsuits against the University of Michigan and fuel the intense national debate over affirmative action.
Cohen distributed information about Michigan's undergraduate, law and seven-year undergraduate-medical school program. A table of standards for undergraduate admissions shows certain combinations of grade point average and SAT scores that would cause admissions officers to reject a "majority" candidate but continue to consider an under-represented minority applicant.
For example, upon first review, a Caucasian student with a GPA between 3.2 and 3.3 and a score of 1010-1080 on the SAT would be rejected and an under-represented minority student with identical numerical data would be accepted. Another document shows the Integrated Premedical-Medical Program's standards for considering applications. For non-minorities, the program requires a 3.6 GPA for in-state students and 3.8 GPA for out-of-state students, combined with an SAT score of 1320. The same program requires a 3.4 GPA for in-state or out-of-state under-represented minorities and a minimum 1120 SAT score.
Cohen said the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which uses the phrase "affirmative action," was never intended to give preferential treatment to any race, but instead to eliminate all racial discrimination.
The term's meaning today is, Cohen said, a considerable distortion of its original definition.
"No impartial judge could reasonably assume that preferential treatment would be legal under that law," Cohen said. "The phrase affirmative action was kidnapped. For most people, the once-honorable name of affirmative action has been corrupted. The issue is preference by race."
He challenged the argument that affirmative action corrects previous wrongs, saying that this contention falsely assigns rights to groups.
"The notion that we can correct past wrongs is a moral blunder. It assumes rights belong to groups. Moral entitlements are not held by groups, but held by individuals."
Cohen invoked the words of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr. in his vision of a colorblind society and discussed the harm done by admission preference on minorities, society and the institutions.
He said racial preferences result in a disparity of performance between minority and non-minority students, which reinforces stereotypes and exacerbates social tension. "If some demon were to concoct a scheme to humiliate minorities, there could not have been a more cruel or ingenious plan than the one that is already in place by preferential treatment," he said.
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