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Imaginary Friends
How to write a diversity essay.
By Peter W. Wood
At the end of August the University of Michigan announced how it would comply with the Supreme Court's ruling in Gratz v. Bollinger, the ruling in June that outlawed UM's undergraduate racial quotas for failing to meet the test of being "narrowly tailored." UM's response, unveiled on August 28, has three parts. Applicants will now have to divulge information about the educational backgrounds of family members; their high-school counselors or principals will have to respond to a form that asks whether they know of "any socio-economic, personal, or educational circumstance that may have affected this student's academic achievement, either positively or negatively;" and applicants will have to write a 250-word "diversity" essay.
The diversity essay is a coy device that I believe was first introduced by law schools as an indirect way of asking students about their racial and ethnic identities. The Boston University School of Law, for example, invites applicants to submit an optional essay "to provide information on your ethnic, cultural, or family background that is relevant to your development." But diversity essays have since caught on in a big way among liberal-arts colleges, and it was widely expected that the University of Michigan would follow suit.
The UM application for the fall of 2004 will give students two options for the diversity essay. They can choose to respond to this:
At the University of Michigan, we are committed to building an academically superb and widely diverse educational community. What would you as an individual bring to our campus community?
Or, if the prospective student doesn't see himself as bearing diversity gifts, he can respond to this:
Describe an experience you've had where cultural diversity — or a lack thereof — has made a difference to you."
Applicants will also have to write two other essays, a traditional one about "a memorable...
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