Diversity, Race as Proxy, and Religion as Proxy

Abstract

This article makes two observations about the intellectual diversity rationale for race-based affirmative action:(1) Race as Proxy: The rational uses race as proxy for people's attitudes, something that equal protection jurisprudence generally condemns. It's hard to see how this use of race as proxy is different from other, impermissible uses.(2) Religion as Proxy: The intellectual diversity arguments in favor of race-conscious decisions would also apply to religion-conscious decisions, especially given the lack of devoutly religious perspectives in many academic environments. If we believe that the end of intellectual diversity doesn't justify the means of religious discrimination, this suggests the same may be true for race.