The Dubious Value of an Ivy League Degree

The recent epidemic of anti-Semitism on college campuses, and Ivy League colleges in particular, has drawn my attention to a long-simmering issue, which is, why do we think an Ivy League degree is so valuable? So much of what we hear from Ivy League campuses these days reflects a moral degeneracy. In an encouraging, though belated, indication of some pushback, some prospective employers are now asking for a list of Harvard students who signed onto a declaration blaming Israel for the 10/7 Hamas slaughter of 1,400 Israeli civilians, for the purpose of denying those misguided students future job interviews.

With the benefit of this new insight, it seems absurd to me that the most prominent affirmative action cases all involve entry into universities. Bakke (1978) involved an application to a University of California medical school; Gratz and Gutter (2003) both involved applications to the University of Michigan law school; and Fisher (2016) involved admission the University of Texas; All of these cases upheld race-based admissions. But now we have two companion cases decided this past summer, one involving Harvard and the other the University of North Carolina, in which the Supreme Court broke with the past and struck down race-based admissions.

I am incredulous at this obsession with what college you go to. To my way of thinking, a degree from a quality liberal arts college is more valuable, in any meaningful sense of the word, than a degree from one of the "elite" universities. The three things employers value most in an employee--integrity, honesty, and a good work ethic--are most likely to be found in a college setting which encourages and nurtures those values.

To the extent that employers still over-value the elite degree, I say, so what? No man ever lay on his death bed and rued that he didn't spend more time on his business. The very thought is silly, what they always say is that they regret not spending more time with their family.

If we look at the Supreme Corrt justices, almost all in recent years have been graduates of Ivy League colleges. And the result is that the Court has a historically low approval rating, because the Court is out of touch with the country. The prevalence of Ivy League graduates has been almost as damaging to the country as the prevalence of Catholics on the Court.