A new report is out, purporting to document racial stereotyping and “microaggression” at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. From the first news story I saw on this study: “‘They [i.e., students] shared very detailed personal stories of experiencing racism on campus,’ [report coauthor Stacy] Harwood said. For example, some students said they heard classmates comment that racial minorities were less qualified and only admitted because of affirmative action. Others said their advisers encouraged them to change their majors to something less challenging.”

Well, if a school gives preferential treatment in admissions to students in some racial and ethnic groups, then at least some of those students will be less qualified than students in nonpreferred categories, and they will have been admitted over those better qualified students because of affirmative action. That’s logic, not racism. And it is documented that this lowering of standards leads to a mismatch effect, and that this in turn often results in students switching majors.

So if you want to change this reality, the first step is to end admission preferences on the basis of race. I doubt that the university here has done this; on its admissions page, it says it aims “[t]o achieve a class that embodies rich diversity” and that “[s]tudent diversity is a compelling interest.” Readers will be astonished to learn that, while the report makes many recommendations, ending racial preferences in admissions is not among them.