During my time in graduate school, I had a unique job opportunity tutoring Asian American students to help them downplay their Asian identity. It was an eye-opening experience as one of my clients, a high school student, specifically asked me to review her college applications and ensure that she didn’t come across as too Asian. Initially, I thought she was joking, but she was dead serious. She believed that top colleges had quotas for Asian students and that appearing too Asian would hinder her chances of getting accepted. She even mentioned examples of friends with exceptional achievements who had been rejected from safety schools.
This request became a recurring theme in my tutoring career. Chinese and Korean students wanted to know how to minimize their Asian identity, while wealthy white students wanted to downplay their privilege. Black, Latino, and Middle Eastern students also expressed the need to emphasize their racial background. It seemed that everyone, regardless of their background, believed that elite colleges required a certain level of racial strategizing. It transformed the college admissions process into a game where students had to either downplay or highlight their identity in exchange for acceptance letters.
Years later, as a Black Ph.D. candidate searching for a professorship, I faced a similar dilemma. Should I discuss my race to increase my chances of being hired for diversity purposes, or would it be seen as cheating the system? It was a difficult decision to make.
Affirmative action has played a crucial role in providing opportunities for underrepresented individuals like myself. Without it, I may not have been accepted into Haverford College, pursued my Ph.D., or obtained my current professorship at Bates College. I firmly believe in the necessity of affirmative action to address the historical injustices stemming from slavery and to counteract the de facto affirmative action that benefits academically mediocre, privileged students.
However, unintentionally, affirmative action has also contributed to a race-obsessed university culture where students perceive their racial identity as the defining aspect of their worth. Many prestigious institutions have found ways to game the system, increasing diversity statistics without truly supporting those who need it most. Some colleges accept minority students who can afford full tuition, while supposedly need-blind institutions still manage to recruit minority students without financial need.
While the present system has managed to create racial diversity, the abolition of affirmative action will intensify our already warped system of racial gamification. Diversity will continue to be superficially praised, with universities making performative gestures without truly addressing the structural inequalities. The institutions find it expensive to admit lower-income minority students, and without affirmative action, financial viability will become the primary consideration.
Replacing affirmative action with class-based policies may not necessarily increase racial diversity, as seen in states where affirmative action was already banned. Racial gamification will become the dominant strategy, with minority applicants and their parents trying to guess which racial or ethnic category will appeal to admissions officers. Chief Justice John Roberts’s recent opinion on considering race in admissions provides a roadmap for this gamification process.
The consequences are already evident. Minority applicants feel compelled to share their most traumatic experiences to increase their chances of acceptance, while white, Asian, or wealthy students attempt to downplay their racial or financial privileges. This race-centered discourse will lead to more superficial diversity initiatives, meaningless reports, and tokenization of minority faculty members.
Amidst all this noise, if you take a moment to observe, you’ll notice a decline in the number of brown and Black students on campus. Eventually, this will result in less diversity in professions such as medicine.
Overall, the end of affirmative action will amplify the problems of racial gamification, while failing to provide true racial justice and structural redress. It is a disheartening reality for those who have fought for diversity and equal opportunities in higher education.
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