The Heritage Foundation this week published an outstanding new paper by Gail Heriot, a law professor at the University of San Diego and member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

The title is “A ‘Dubious Expediency’: How Race-Preferential Admissions Policies on Campus Hurt Minority Students,” and here’s the teaser: “Mounting empirical research shows that race-preferential admissions policies are doing more harm than good. Instead of increasing the numbers of African Americans entering high-status careers, these policies reduce those numbers relative to what we would have had if colleges and universities had followed race-neutral policies. We have fewer African-American scientists, physicians, and engineers and likely fewer lawyers and college professors.”