I agree with the editorial board that the University of Wisconsin administration’s reaction to the Center for Equal Opportunity’s report was inappropriate. However, the board and I differ when it comes to affirmative action.

While I am not entirely opposed to the university’s holistic approach to admissions, I do not believe race should be a factor. It is more important that the university extend opportunities to those who are of lower socioeconomic status than those who have different colored skin.

Diversity comes from overcoming hardship and facing the world head-on in the face of challenges. By admitting those students of low economic status, the university gives them an opportunity they would not have otherwise been afforded because they did not have access to the same resources as those students who are better financially situated.

A student of lower socioeconomic status would benefit more from the rich and extensive education provided by this university. It would allow the student to enrich his or her life and provide a brighter future for the student and his or her family. If the university’s admission policy should indeed “lower the barriers to opportunity and success,” as the board says, then poorer students, not those of different colored skin, should benefit more.

A person’s race also does not correlate to the diversity of his or her experience. A young African-American female could have grown up in a wealthy suburb as an only child to two doctors, whereas a young white male could have grown up in downtown Chicago with three siblings and no father. By allowing race to be a factor, that young black female who has the world at her fingertips may be chosen over that young white male struggling to survive and overcome his family’s turmoil.

I am not necessarily giving any credence to CEO’s report or their findings. I merely believe that socioeconomic status is more important than race when it comes to promulgating a diverse atmosphere on campus. Therefore, race should not be a factor in the university’s admissions policy, and doing away with affirmative action would do little in the way of diversity.