In response to my post on former University of Michigan president James Duderstadt's comments on how UM can best continue its unconstitutional use of racial preferences in admissions, a reader writes:

As a longtime reader of your blog, I'm shocked that you didn't blast the Duderstadt piece that you linked to today. (I realize, also, that you didn't necessarily give it a ringing endorsement, either.)

While I think it's worthwhile for universities to avoid mathematical equations in the admissions policies and look at each applicant individually, I'm even more opposed to the "let's pretend we're colorblind" approach taken by Rice University than the more blatant approach taken by Michigan. It's obvious from the NYT article that the admissions officers at Rice are doing everything in their power to find out an applicant's race, and then adjusting their standards accordingly.ÝWhile it may involve more individual attention than Michigan's, it's just asÝdiscriminatory andÝfar less honest.

UPDATE: Duderstadt clarifies his position in a letter to the editor of today's Michigan Daily. Bottom line: no, he does not think UM's current admissions policy is wrong; yes, he thinks it is possible to devise a policy that will accomplish Michigan's diversity goals more effectively than the current point system; yes, he is advocating, without saying as much, continuing a race-based admissions policy no matter what the courts have to say.