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Wall Street Journal

Columbia University Can Lead a New Era of Civil Rights

Columbia University has signed what may be the most sweeping civil-rights compact in the modern history of higher education. On top of the more than $220 million the school has consented to pay the government, the agreement subjects every admissions office and hiring committee to a single, colorblind mandate. No decision may turn on race, sex or ethnicity. An independent monitor—armed with audit authority—can inspect all data related to staff hiring and admissions at the university to ensure its promise is kept. Though this formal monitoring period lasts only three years, the data it compels will provide a baseline that makes future discrimination easier to detect, harder to deny, and riskier to undertake.