Students for Fair Admissions has sued a number of universities over their admissions policies that give large advantages to applicants who happen to fit into certain racial classifications. Their case against Harvard is awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court to grant cert or not. And back in October, federal judge Loretta Biggs ruled in favor of the University of North Carolina in SFFA’s suit against it.

I write about that ruling in today’s Martin Center article.

SFFA never had a chance with this Obama appointee, who declared that UNC ought to be doing more to bring about “diversity.” She is completely on board with the notion that “diversity” is purely a matter of ancestry rather than individuality.

All that Judge Biggs needed to ground her decision was a “showing” by UNC that it was reaping the educational benefits of diversity (that is the magic phrase that must be uttered in these cases, thanks to Justice Lewis Powell in the Bakke case). The evidence consisted of a few former students saying that they learned from students who were different while enrolled. But those same students might also have learned from the students who were rejected because of their ancestry.

Moreover, it’s plain that UNC, Harvard, and other institutions don’t really care about anything except having what they regard as sufficient minority percentages, since they do nothing to seek “diversity” in aspects of life where there is real controversy in America. They don’t look to admit students who would add differing points of view regarding religion or philosophy. If they were actually concerned about crafting student bodies where the students would learn from and about each other, they’d seek out students who are deeply religions and others who aren’t religious at all, students who have military backgrounds and others who are anti-militarists, students who believe in omnipotent government and students who are libertarians, etc. The “educational benefits” claim is just a smokescreen for administrators pursuing their notions of “social justice.”