Mr. Cobb concedes that the leaked memo could serve the political purpose mentioned by Mr. Tobin above, namely “reminding conservatives why they should defend Jeff Sessions from Trump’s attempts to replace him.” But he writes that the move should also be understood in the broader context of other administration initiatives. Efforts to curb affirmative action, together with President Trump’s decisions about immigration, trade policy and building a border wall, “point to an overall endeavor to create a kind of racial protectionism, to socially engineer a world in which whites — the unheralded disadvantaged class in America — once again have a deck stacked in their own favor.” Read more »

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• June Jennings in The Nation:

“The myth of the unworthy applicant is pervasive, and it both impacts the way white people — specifically men — think about themselves and the mental health of people of color.”

Many writers addressing the memo have cited Abigail Fisher’s lawsuit against the University of Texas in 2013. The Supreme Court ultimately upheld the school’s affirmative action program in 2016. Written in 2015, on the eve of the Supreme Court trial, this article by Ms. Jennings examines both the psychology of affirmative action and the effect of its rhetoric on students of color. “How can [Ms. Fisher] truly feel like a victim of racism?” Ms. Jennings wonders. Read more »

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• Richard Thompson Ford in Slate:

“It’s fair to assume that the real goal here is to fuel the hostility that some downwardly mobile whites feel toward racial minorities and toward the ‘cultural elite’ that selective universities have come to symbolize.”

Mr. Sessions’s “attack” on affirmative action is sure to fail, Mr. Ford writes, adding that the issue “has been argued, analyzed, and litigated repeatedly for more than 40 years.” Over and over again, courts have “wisely” deferred to universities on the question of admissions details. Perhaps the administration is focusing its attention on this settled legal territory to “distract attention from Trump’s failure to address the real causes of economic immobility, such as the disinvestment in public higher education and the rising costs of higher education.” Read more »

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• The editorial board of The San Francisco Chronicle:

“It also undercuts efforts by the nation’s more selective schools — which have the challenge and luxury of choosing among a surplus of qualified candidates — to take into account more than a student’s standardized test scores and grade point average when weighing his or her aptitude and drive.”

The editors at The San Francisco Chronicle argue that Justice Department’s decision to examine affirmative action “plays to racial resentment.” They argue that California’s Proposition 209 — the policy mentioned in Mr. Johnson’s article above — has had a “chilling effect” on the state’s ability close “opportunity gaps” in its higher education program. Read more »