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Setting value judgments about this stuff aside, I'm laughing just thinking about the logistical & administrative nightmare that would result from an admissions

Setting value judgments about this stuff aside, I'm laughing just thinking about the logistical & administrative nightmare that would result from an admissions department actually trying to verify student-provided race & ethnicity with any degree of rigor. Hiring genealogists to investigate and verify family ancestors. Upgrading department policies, procedures, and facilities to process DNA samples. Providing an appeals process for and handling student protests of the committee's assessment of their race. Schools are already so bad at IT, admin, etc, can you even imagine how much effort they would have to put in to make something like this work.

hihihihi1234 5y ago
Well this is a story as old as racism itself. There's never been a clear-cut way to unambiguously decide which "race" everybody is, and segregationist regimes have always struggled with edge cases. E.g. back in the days of Jim Crow it was sometimes possible for a particular "black" person to become legally "white" just by crossing state lines.
- ashwagary 5y ago
  >back in the days of Jim Crow it was sometimes possible for a particular "black" person to become legally "white" just by crossing state lines. The "One drop rule' says you are wrong.
  - hihihihi1234 5y ago
    The one-drop rule wasn't universal; some states had a less stringent definition of who counted as black. E.g. according to Wikipedia, Florida passed a law in 1865 stipulating that you were black if you had at least one black great-grandparent. So if you were only one-sixteenth black, you'd have been considered black under the one-drop rule, but you weren't black in Florida. Which is precisely my point. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule
- curtisblaine 5y ago
  Old and never solved. I guess anyone, if they squint enough, is able to find (or plausibly invent) a sixteenth of minority blood in their veins, if it becomes advantageous to do so. Who's going to dna-test employees? The moment affirmative action starts really moving the needle is the instant everyone magically discovers a multiracial heritage in their family. Percentages of diversity go up, everyone is happy and the problem is worse than before.

hihihihi1234 5y ago

Well this is a story as old as racism itself. There's never been a clear-cut way to unambiguously decide which "race" everybody is, and segregationist regimes have always struggled with edge cases. E.g. back in the days of Jim Crow it was sometimes possible for a particular "black" person to become legally "white" just by crossing state lines.

ashwagary 5y ago
>back in the days of Jim Crow it was sometimes possible for a particular "black" person to become legally "white" just by crossing state lines. The "One drop rule' says you are wrong.
- hihihihi1234 5y ago
  The one-drop rule wasn't universal; some states had a less stringent definition of who counted as black. E.g. according to Wikipedia, Florida passed a law in 1865 stipulating that you were black if you had at least one black great-grandparent. So if you were only one-sixteenth black, you'd have been considered black under the one-drop rule, but you weren't black in Florida. Which is precisely my point. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule
curtisblaine 5y ago
Old and never solved. I guess anyone, if they squint enough, is able to find (or plausibly invent) a sixteenth of minority blood in their veins, if it becomes advantageous to do so. Who's going to dna-test employees? The moment affirmative action starts really moving the needle is the instant everyone magically discovers a multiracial heritage in their family. Percentages of diversity go up, everyone is happy and the problem is worse than before.