SUNY Chancellor: Racial Preferences Don’t Cause Asian, White Students to Be Rejected, But Ending Them Means Fewer Black, Latino Students

On Friday’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” State University of New York (SUNY) system Chancellor John B. King, Jr. responded to arguments that racial preferences harm white and Asian students who are rejected in favor of less qualified applicants who benefit from racial preferences by stating that this misrepresents the admissions process because some schools have legacy admissions, and some students are admitted due to musical or athletic ability. He also argued that eliminating race preferences will lead to “fewer black and Latino students on campuses.”

Host Steve Inskeep asked, “They make another assertion that admissions [are] a zero-sum game. If you admit a black student for being black — to oversimplify a little bit here — you’re rejecting a white student or rejecting an Asian student. Are they missing something when they say it that way?”

King responded, “Yeah. Again, I think they’re misrepresenting how the admissions process works. There are policies at Harvard, for example, where students are admitted because they are legacies, because they’re one of multiple generations in their family to go to Harvard. There are students who are admitted because they’re a tuba player. There are students who are admitted because they’re great lacrosse players. And so, there [are] a range of factors as universities try to build a diverse class.”

King also stated that “by removing the tool of race-conscious admissions, the evidence is it results in fewer black and Latino students on campuses.”

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