During arguments before the Supreme Court a couple of days ago, Justice Scalia was heard to suggest perhaps admitting less prepared minority kids to elite schools which only admit the very best white students, was unfair to the minority kids. See a Los Angeles Times article for details on the resulting firestorm.
Before you conclude Scalia was expressing racism, go see our review of a Stuart Taylor, Jr. article which argues persuasively that the practice of lowering standards for minority kids does them no favors. If you need more info, follow the link there to Taylor's original article.
In truth elite universities seek out inadequately qualified minority students in order to stay out of trouble with the federal affirmative action "police." Enrolling the students protects the university, not the students. They often experience unnecessary failure when, at a school with less elite admission standards for white students, they might be quite competitive and successful.
This is what Scalia was trying to say. Admittedly he did not express the thought as elegantly as he might (or should) have done.
Ironically, you can't blame the universities which do what they must to survive. You have to blame the strictures which force them to recruit likely-to-fail students to meet diversity quotas intentionally mislabeled as "targets" or "goals."
