The University of Michigan has seen an 8 percent decline in underrepresented minority freshman enrollment since it began using a race-blind admissions system after the voter-approved initiative Proposal 2 passed in 2006.
The drop comes at time when the state’s 14 other public universities — which said they had not previously used affirmative action in admissions — saw an increase in the number of black, Latino and Native American freshman students on their campuses, according to a Detroit News analysis of 2008 admissions statewide.
The numbers suggest the ballot initiative that barred race from admissions didn’t significantly impact the number of underrepresented minorities at public universities overall. But it likely contributed to smaller percentages of minority students admitted at the state’s most prestigious university and the top professional schools.
The article does not bother to explain the “mismatch” argument of racial-preference opponents–namely, the concern that under a regime of affirmative action, many minority students are promoted into academic environments for which they are not prepared. Because professors don’t give preferences in awarding grades, these students suffer. In other words, kids who are cut out for, say, Wayne State, shouldn’t suddenly be elevated to the University of Michigan for the sake of bean counting. Wayne State is a match; Michigan is a mismatch. Better to earn a degree from Wayne State than to drop out of Michigan.
In several years, it will be possible to test the mismatch argument in Michigan by looking at graduation rates. For black and Hispanic students, they should improve.
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