Color-Blind Scholarships

Color-Blind Progress
Why Harvard, Yale, Princeton and others are dropping race-based
policies.

Monday, December 13, 2004 12:01 a.m. EST

You wouldn't know it from reading the papers. But the U.S. Office of
Civil Rights scored an important victory recently when Wisconsin agreed
to restructure a scholarship program that discriminates based on race
and ethnicity. It's the latest sign of a welcome trend away from
racially exclusive programs in higher education.

The Supreme Court's decision last year regarding the University of
Michigan's race-conscious admissions policies has hastened the trend,
but schools were coming around even before the ruling. Since 2002,
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, Williams,
Indiana University and dozens of others have opened up scholarships,
internships and summer programs to all students, regardless of race.

Much of the credit belongs to organizations--the Center for Equal
Opportunity, the Center for Individual Rights and the National
Association of Scholars--committed to color-blind education polices.
Two years ago, the Center for Equal Opportunity sent a letter to MIT,
whose summer program for high school students interested in science and
technology excluded Asians and whites.

When MIT failed to respond, a complaint was filed with the U.S.
Education Department's Office of Civil Rights, and the college then
ended the racial exclusion. Letters to Princeton and other schools with
similarly restrictive programs soon followed. The center next asked the
National Association of Scholars--a network of academics, trustees and
administrators--to encourage their members to call attention to similar
programs across the country. And that's when ivory really started
cracking.