<p>SSfren - there are many kinds of diversity: religious, geographic, political, sexual preference, income, neighborhood, etc. </p>
<p>You asked if I’d give up the Asian in preference to a less qualified applicant. Asian and white are the two highest ethnicities at UCB, UCLA. So in reality, admitting a person in order to add diversity would affect an Asian or White applicant the most. Yes, that displacement of an otherwise qualifying asian or white is the consequence of admitting a diversity applicant. Yet, by the same realities, the admitted Asians and Whites also benefit the most from conversations with the diversity admit. So its an even trade if looked at as a System, and not its discreet parts. Ah, you say, who are YOU to decide what a good dish tastes like! Well, that is beyond the scope of this little post, but there is no such thing as a value-less, or unbiased objective. Whenever human beings are involved, values and objectives get messy, are debated, and there is tension. </p>
<p>I am saying that <em>my</em> bias is that a University education is not complete without diversity.. that a critical part of the college experience is meeting people who share with other students the experiences born of their diversity – skin color, religion, econonic, country of origin, etc. This sharing is at the heart of a university education. That is my bias, my value. You are free to disagree. If I am baking a meal and know that I should add 4% of some spice, would you say I’m sacrificing another deserving ingredient? Maybe… adding one does require cutting back on the other (assuming I am limited in the weight of the final meal). But its for the good of the entire dish… the adcom is trying to put out a balanced dish in which the quality of the educational experience is maximized for the total Student population. The dish would falter without the proper mix of spices.</p>
<p>Adcom’s go through this at every top university in the country… they are trying to tweak their Student Body recipe to balance merit of the individual with what that individual adds to the mix on the campus.</p>