Commentary: Duke should use Affirmative Action

LBJ described the gap corrected by affirmative action as a race in which one team already had a significant head start, and that in order to level the playing field you could not assume all things are equal and you had to provide more opportunities for the teams who started the run late in order to make it a fair race.

Doing little justice to the eloquence of that famous Texan, his words nonetheless capture a common sense reason as to why Duke should use the Michigan factors in its admission process. These factors used for matriculation purposes, and not the point system, were held as constitutional under the Supreme Court's decisions this past summer in the cases of Grutter & Gratz v. Bollinger, proving yet again that whiny applicants who do not get what they want cannot hold universities accountable for having the "audacity" to act selective for admissions into their prestigious colleges. Gratz only applied to UM for undergrad, and Grutter thought because she started her own business she belonged in UM law school; sorry ladies, too bad UM considered your mediocre scores rather than "bad decision-making" and "arrogance" as factors for admissions.

Aside from SATs and grades, Michigan also takes into consideration: geography, alumni (legacy and otherwise related), essays, personal achievement (state, regional, and national levels), leadership and services (on the same levels) and the ever controversial "Miscellaneous" area that includes socio-economic disadvantages, under-represented racial/ethnic minorities, scholarship athletes, administration discretion and men in nursing (Shout out to Gaylord Focker!). Although none of us can know for certain what goes on inside the minds of those admissions personnel who sit in that cool house on Campus Drive, Duke should strive to weigh all of these factors equally when deciding to whom to extend the honor to attend one of the top universities in the world. You Republicans and Conservatives may call me a "limousine liberal" for being white and having such opinions, but if you really are bothered by it you can always drive north to Lexington, Virginia and fit right in at Washington & Lee, or even hit up the "White Plains" of Hanover, New Hampshire at Dartmouth to feel more at ease with your surroundings.

Looking at socio-economic factors, it seems as though Duke has gotten it all wrong. They seem to search for those students who have had financial advantages, rather than those who have not had the opportunities that come with money. Perhaps the drive to raise a "100 billion dollars" (Wooo-hahaha!) had something to do with this anomaly, but it may also be that the price of a Duke education may come off as too steep for too many. Either way, Duke should take into account those applicants who had to work after school rather than attend the SAT tutor. A trite argument, yes, but to those who can afford to get the extra help on the exam, I will bet the house it helped jack their scores up.

The legacy factor happened to be the right decision for a young university like Duke. To those who cry "foul play," understand that more than likely legacies may actually have the same "smart genes" (official scientific terminology) as their parents; their parents give money so that we can have more luxuries; and they provide a sense of tradition to the up and coming Ivy of the South. You do not often hear students describe themselves as a "4th Generation Dukie," yet the social rejects from Harvard seem to wear their Crimson heritage on the blechers.

One factor that Duke must also work on is geography. When I go out in Los Angeles and tell a girl I graduated from Duke undergrad, and I am now at Duke Law, I do not want to have her ask me, "Is Duke part of the Cal State system?" (Actually happened.) I want Duke to become a household name just like Yale and Oxford. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the students from Long Island and North Jersey, but can't we trade in some of them for more chill students from out West? What about some more international students? Perhaps the Euros can teach us how to properly "socially drink."

Finally, Duke must use under-represented racial and ethnic minority identifications as a factor, and I would also add religion to this area. Some will argue that unqualified students are taking the places of more qualified applicants, yet, bottom line, the person who did not get in just could not cut it. Duke can and should be selective. We are unique, and that is the importance of being Duke.

David Nefouse is a second year law student. His column appears every other Friday.