Randall Kennedy

You asked me, where do I stand with respect to affirmative action?

Oh, no.

Before we get to that, are there criticisms?

The answer is yes.

There are criticisms of affirmative action.

Affirmative action is a policy like any policy.

Any policy is going to have some downsides to it.

And affirmative action is no different.

Does affirmative action have some downsides?

Yes, it does have some downsides.

What are they?

Well, let me mention a couple.

One...

Stigma, stigma.

So if you have an institution that says that it reaches out to give a boost to certain people on a racial basis, they're gonna be people who observe that and who are gonna be thinking to themselves, hmm,

If so-and-so is here and they were given a special boost, doesn't that mean that they were not as proficient as the other people who were here and who did not have that boost?

So if they are not as proficient, that means that they might not be as good.

They might not be as up to snuff.

Is that part of our affirmative action world?

Yes, it's part of our affirmative action world.