YEARS AGO, once colleges and universities had decided to make race and ethnicity “a factor” in their admissions, many of them cast about for additional ways to advance educational opportunity for minorities. So they came up with scholarship and financial aid programs, freshmen orientation programs, and academic-enrichment programs, to name the most prominent. And they made sure that the programs were, as the lawyers say, racially and ethnically exclusive. Only minorities were eligible.

Now comes the news that colleges and universities are having second thoughts about the wisdom of retaining their minority-exclusive programs. Indeed, according to a recent story in the Chronicle of Higher Education, many schools have opened such programs to “students of any race.” A trend appears in the making, and it’s worth applauding.