Racist Universities?

I recently read the article Why race matters in school admissions by two very important people in the college industry. They are both deans from very important Ivy League schools. Martha L. Minow is from Harvard, and  Robert Post is from Yale. They were expressing their feelings about a situation they had with the Supreme Court, who was demanding them to ignore race when admitting students into their universities. After reading their arguments, I am obliged to agree with them.

 They started the article explaining how they accept students. "We admit students to accomplish two goals: to get the best possible students and to assemble the best possible class."- fourth paragraph. This basically tells us that they want a student group that has various points of view and that work together to achieve a higher level of education and understanding of the world. I absolutely agree with them in that matter because I believe that diversity is very important in student groups, especially in law schools where students are taught to cooperate with different ethnic groups. 

Throughout the article, the authors express their arguments against the Supreme Court as they explain that the circumstances of an applicant's life affect their character, which is an important part of the apllication process. Most of the time this is directly connected to the person's race. If universities start ignoring race in applications, they might not accept the best class possible. As the authors said, it "...would be a tragedy for legal education and for higher education generally."

For example, some students have recommendations in which it is expressed how they have surpassed obstacles in their life. These proofs of character are often attached to the person's race. "Essays and letters of recommendation are critical components of the application process at law schools." Without them, colleges will never truly know the people they are admitting. 

It is because of these reasons that I think race is very important in college aplications.