plus factor
n.— «he University of Michigan’s policy of giving favored minorities 20 extra points on a 150-point admissions index to achieve undergraduate “diversity” was unconstitutional, but its law school’s use of race as a “‘plus’ factor” to achieve “a “critical mass’ of underrepresented minorities” was constitutional—assuming, as O’Connor thought it realistic and pertinent to do, that in 25 years race-conscious admissions policies will not be “necessary.”» —“The Court’s Electoral Thicket” by George F. Will Washington Post June 30, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The result? A memorable lesson in the miracle of metamorphosis...
In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city’s youngest readers, extolling the many benefits of libraries. One of the loveliest was from E.B. White, author of...