ABSTRACT
The endurance of racial affirmative action in selective college admissions is a puzzle. Public sentiment about racial affirmative action, here defined as the explicit and positive consideration of minority racial status in the evaluation of applicants, has shifted in recent years from ambivalence to hostility. Ballot measures and court rulings outlawing consideration of race in admissions at public universities in California, Michigan, Texas, and Washington demonstrate widespread disapproval of the practice, yet racial affirmative action enjoys strong support among academic elites (Gross and Simmons 2007; Zimmerman 2003). Many of the most selective private institutions in the country evaluate African American and Hispanic applicants preferentially relative to Whites and Asians (Espenshade and Radford 2009). Why does affirmative action persist at elite colleges and universities?
