What we get wrong about affirmative action

An alleged discrimination case against Harvard has put the affirmative action debate in the spotlight again — this time with Asian Americans being used to make the case against it. But the problem is, the way we talk about race in college admissions hasn’t changed for years…and it’s often wrong. While we may think of affirmative action as a policy that boosts college applicants of color to help undo the effects of historical discrimination — the Supreme Court has actually narrowed the use of affirmative action over decades of rulings. And now, armed with an allegation that Harvard is using race in college admissions to discriminate against Asian applicants — conservative opponents of affirmative action may put the issue back in the hands of a majority-conservative Supreme Court.