Enter Richard Kahlenberg with his latest book, Class Matters, subtitled The Fight to Get Beyond Race Preferences, Reduce Inequality, and Build Real Diversity at America’s Colleges.
In the case that reached the Supreme Court, Kahlenberg, a frequent contributor to the Washington Monthly, testified as an expert witness in opposition to race-based admissions at UNC. At first blush, the move was incongruous. Kahlenberg is a “liberal maverick.” He idealizes Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, and William O. Douglas, the longest-serving Supreme Court justice and New Dealer, still loathed on the right. A graduate of Harvard College and law school, Kahlenberg directs the American Identity Project at the Progressive Policy Institute, a centrist Democratic think tank.
His book is a compelling and provocative examination of the places of race, privilege, and money in college admissions—an issue with stark political implications, for both parties, but Democrats in particular. Kahlenberg prizes racial diversity on campus but is alarmed by racially conscious means to attain that goal. He is mindful of slavery and its legacy, but is aware of the growing divide within the U.S. between the economic “haves” and “have-nots”. The resulting read is nuanced, sober, and granular. \
