I am a professor of American literature at a public university in Massachusetts, and I’m generally a supporter of the kind of affirmation action that university admissions offices practice with respect to race. And I’m against the case brought to District court in Boston this week that attempts to dismantle such policies at Harvard University.

But I also think that the issue of race-based admissions at elite universities like Harvard has acquired a phony importance in our national discussion about race and higher education. If we are really interested in the role higher education can play in cultivating broader equality and civil rights in America, we should change the conversation.