Russell Nieli has a jaw-dropping essay on Minding the Campus. Describing a major study, he reveals that elite colleges and universities severely discriminate against low-income white students. Furthermore, having a leadership position in an unsavory group such as 4-H, ROTC, or the Future Farmers of America severely reduces your chances of admission.

The findings make a mockery of Harvard’s defense of affirmative action in the Supreme Court Bakke case: “A farm boy from Idaho can bring something to Harvard College that a Bostonian cannot offer. Similarly, a black student can usually bring something that a white person cannot offer.”