shades fills you in

On November 1, the Supreme Court heard two affirmative action cases against Harvard and UNC. Bloomberg reports that the court seems ready to end race-based admissions policies

Bloomberg Law says the policy should stay, we need to keep the diversity talent pipeline wide open -- businesses and minority job seekers would seriously suffer otherwise

But The NYT says the evidence in this case makes clear that the school discriminates unfairly against Asians

The Dispatch: Affirmative action is based on good intentions, but results in pretty gross racial discrimination, like in this case

Alito and Roberts seem to agree. During oral arguments, they dug into the Harvard lawyer over its “personal score” used in admission. They want to know why Asians score much lower than any other demographic -- Fox News

And Clarence Thomas questioned what “diversity” actually means. It seems to mean everything to everyone. He’s skeptical that it serves any educational purpose -- The National Review

The Washington Examiner agrees. Diversity for diversity’s sake is no reason to allow race discrimination. And how much diversity is enough? What’s the end date?

But The Atlantic dismisses that argument. Affirmative action is really new! We need to give it way more time to rectify centuries-long discrimination against racial minorities

And Brookings says universities need affirmative action for the public good and for greater social mobility. Elite schools aren’t trying to be “fair” or pick the “best”. They’re trying to create a diversity of many things, including race

A WaPo Op Ed from a Harvard professor: Let’s keep but fix affirmative action. Many Black students at top colleges are kids of recent immigrants with money. Shouldn’t we instead focus on the communities affected the most?

Wait, why is everyone so worked up about admissions to a tiny number of elite schools? USA Today says the top colleges are insanely competitive, most people are rejected, and race isn’t very important in the other schools

Politico disagrees. We know what happens when schools ban affirmative action: Fewer students of color make it into elite colleges, and white students take their place

The Atlantic says this is all a distraction -- the real problem is the class divide, not race. Wealthy people have way too much influence on admissions, and poor people barely stand a chance