“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
The above is an iconic line from the iconic movie “The Princess Bride.” Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) wryly says it to Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) after he — Vizzini — has uttered the word “inconceivable” several times.
That movie is a fairy tale, but something similar is playing out in real life regarding the word “merit.” Self-identified conservatives continually apply that word as a proverbial cudgel, attempting to beat proponents of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) into submission. While that strategy has been very successful rhetorically and politically, it fails factually. Unfortunately, however, we’re slogging through a world in which “alternative facts” prevail.
Consider what recently occurred regarding U.C. Berkeley, which is often cited as our nation’s top public university. Berkeley has been in the news because one of its mathematics professors, Zvezdelina Stankova, Ph.D., harshly criticized the lack of mathematical proficiency of her recent students. Specifically, Stankova wrote in an op-ed that many of them are not equipped to handle college-level calculus:
“Some students are five to eight years behind in mathematics,” Stankova said. “Office hours that should be spent discussing integrals instead become lessons on fractions and basic algebra you would expect students to learn in middle school.”
Stankova also argues that the admissions process at Berkeley is “less like careful evaluation and more like chance.” (Note: There is no truth to the rumor that Stankova has ever been a muse for hip hop group Outkast.)
Berkeley is well-known for its stated commitment to DEI and other progressive principles. That commitment is a major topic in the comments sections of online news outlets that have run this story. Those comments are revelatory, highlighting the assumptions that people are making about which specific students are doing poorly. Spoiler Alert: Most have concluded that they’re Black!
Of course, if this problem is as widespread as Stankova says it is — and I have no data to the contrary — one must consider student demographics before drawing a conclusion. While precise statistics are surprisingly difficult to find, the racial breakdown of Berkeley’s undergraduate student body is roughly as follows: 40.7% to 51.2% Asian (depending on how subcategories are counted), 21%-22% Hispanic/Chicanx/Latinx, 20%-22% white, 10-11% international, 4% African American, and 1.8% Native American/Alaska Native/Pacific Islander.
If graduate students are included, the percentage of Blacks falls to somewhere between 2.5% and 3%. Further, according to The Daily Californian, an independent, student-run newspaper that serves U.C. Berkeley, African American admissions decreased from the 2025-26 cycle to the 2026-27 cycle by a whopping 18.1%.
Historically, the Black student population at Berkeley has remained roughly the same since California voters passed anti-affirmative action Proposition 209 back in 1996. That reduced the school’s Black population roughly in half. It has remained there for 30 years.
Finally, while Berkeley does not publicly share racial breakdowns by each major, we do know that African American students tend to be underrepresented in S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, and math) courses. Speaking of math, when taken together, the available data makes it statistically unlikely that Black students are the primary cause of the recent slide in math attainment among Berkeley students. Unfortunately, this has not stemmed the tide of unwarranted accusations being leveled at them.
Of course, Berkeley is not the only elite school that has been under fire for its DEI initiatives. Harvard University, which was the primary target of the anti-DEI organization Students for Fair Admissions, lost its Supreme Court case to the group.
As I have written previously, a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that 43% of white students who were admitted to Harvard were from four categories: “legacies” (i.e., children/grandchildren of alumni); exceptional athletes; children of faculty or staff; or those on the “dean’s interest list” (i.e., children of big donors).
The study also revealed that approximately 75% of white students who were admitted from those categories “would have been rejected” if they had been judged on the same criteria as other white students — not students of color. Indeed, the study found that nearly 70% of white students who were admitted were legacies — and were eight times more likely to be admitted.
As for students of color? Fewer than 16% of Black, Latino, and Asian American at Harvard were from the four privileged categories.
Thus, at its root, the argument for “merit” has very little to do with inherent qualifications, but very much to do with white supremacy. The base assumption, whether explicitly stated or subtly implied, is that white people are inherently smarter and more capable (in any number of ways) than are people of color in general, and Black people in particular.
Thus, when we hear that “people should be hired/promoted at work or admitted to elite schools based solely on merit,” the subtext wittingly or unwittingly is that a more deserving white person was passed over in favor of a less qualified person of color. This argument is nearly always false.
Moreover, the argument is disingenuous. Consider the following hypothetical:
Suppose that, in an alternate universe, the senior leadership of a Fortune 100 company were comprised entirely of Black women. That includes the chairwoman/CEO, the president, and all the executive vice presidents. Someone from the news media — literally any outlet — asks the chairwoman why there aren’t any white people or men in a senior leadership role at the multi-billion-dollar company. She responds, “We don’t see color. We don’t see gender. We only hire the best ‘man’ for the job.”
How do you think that answer would be received by white Americans? Yet, that is precisely the type of gaslighting and outright prevarication that people of color experience on a daily basis. It is the way that America was long before I was born; I suspect that it will be much the same long after I expire.
Any society that habitually lies to itself is doomed to fail. Consider that in 1988 the once mighty Soviet Union canceled final history exams after decades of false teaching. That decision affected more than 50 million students.
Today, America’s response is, “Hold my vodka.”
Contact community leader Larry Smith and larry@leaf-llc.com.
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