Thank you oh so much for your armchair quarterbacking of our admissions process

[CrankyAsAnOldMan]

Okay, blah blah blah, Supreme Court decision today on affirmative action in admissions; one thing upheld, one thing not, several statements that need interpretation to figure out what the hell the justices meant and so on. Yeah yeah.

Now comes the deluge of commentary, opinion, reactions, and so on.

I am intensely grateful for the people who are generously providing insight into the issue, the court, the justices, and the prior cases. God knows we need it. *I* need it.

But a few people, upon opening their mouths, are magically transformed! Suddenly they don't just have a mere opinion, they are actually experts on all of the following things:

• admissions processes in general
• admissions processes at U-M
• the complete profiles of the applicant pools over the last decade
• the actions, thoughts, beliefs, and hopes of the admissions committees at U-M, starting from when they instituted the challenged policies right through to today
• the desired characteristics and qualifications of college students and law students at U-M
• every detail of the files of the plaintiffs, and the same information on the 'less-deserving' students who got their place in the class
• the ideal way to recruit, evaluate, admit, and retain minority applicants
• the price of tea in china

I could go on, but you get the idea.

My message to those of you who suddenly think you are the Amazing Carnak: Please, for the love of god and all that is holy, please know your limitations. I hate to break this to you, but your crystal ball isn't always accurate. You do not, in fact, know everything about the case. No one person does. Ponder the difference between speculation and fact. Open your eyes, look around, and realize that those smooth red surfaces you see all around are in fact THE WALLS OF YOUR RECTUM. Pull your head out, take a deep breath, and rein yourself in a bit.