The Anti-Individualism of Affirmative Action

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss two landmark cases before the Supreme Court of the United States on the legality of using race in college admissions. They explain how collectivist thinking and state involvement in higher education have created policies that are fundamentally at odds with America’s history of individualism.

Among the topics covered:

How the court cases reveal a pernicious reliance on race in college admissions;
Ayn Rand’s opposition to quotas and affirmative action;
How previous rulings left the value of “diversity” unchallenged;
Why the role of diversity in education doesn’t justify race-based admissions;
The baseless claim of diversity as a “compelling state interest”;
Justice Sotomayor’s shocking claim that there is de jure racial segregation;
The crucial difference between private and government-mandated racial standards;
The arbitrariness of legal racial categories;
Why rhetoric about racial “representation” still amounts to racial quotas;
Why current admissions policies are racist, not a remedy to racism.

Mentioned in this podcast and relevant to the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “Moral Inflation” in The Ayn Rand Letter (March–April 1974), her essay “Racism,” her Q&A on affirmative action at the 1978 Ford Hall Forum, reprinted in Ayn Rand Answers (p. 105), and her essay “Representation without Authorization,” reprinted in The Voice of Reason.

The podcast was recorded on March 10, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.