How and why elite colleges should pass the buck on social justice

College admissions have become a band-aid for all social ills. Here's what can be done about it.

Harvard University.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Tatomm/iStock, slatour/iStock)

Harvard is making headlines again — and not in a good way.

The nation's oldest university is entangled in a lawsuit, in which plaintiffs claim its admissions office has been discriminating against Asian-American applicants. They attest that if Asian-Americans were judged solely by their academic qualifications, they'd make up 50 percent of the student body, not the 23 percent they actually do. This has put Harvard administrators in the awkward position of debating the "likability" of an entire ethnic group, while high school principals cry in court over the injury that racial bias has done to their students. For Harvard's public relations office, it's been a bad few months.

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Rachel Lu

Rachel Lu is a writer based in Roseville, Minnesota. Her work has appeared in many publications, including National Review, The American Conservative, America Magazine, and The Federalist. She previously worked as an academic philosopher, and is a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.