Your first comment was about people "failing out" and now it isn't "about being able to do the work" but instead the problem is these students are "lower in their class". Those goalposts moved quickly.

But let's say your theory is true and that the lower ranks of Yale's graduating classes are full of Black students, why is that a problem? Is getting bad grades at Yale going to damage your life? Are people graduating low in their class from elite universities worse off than people graduating higher in their class from worst universities? Plenty of successful people weren't highly ranked in their graduating class. Getting bad grades at an elite university like Yale seems to almost be a requirement to run for president nowadays. And regardless of the admission policies, some people have to end up being the worst ranked in their graduating class. Why does it matter if it is a Black students or anyone else?

Being the worst in the class a) makes you more likely to fail university b) threatens to make you feel like a fraudulent idiot, undermining your self-confidence in the long run.

Would I personally pick worst in class at a top uni over middle or best a level lower? Eh, probably.

No, I'm not moving the goalposts! Sowell's point is exactly that - being the worst in your class, and sharing that with all your peers of the same race, is tantamount to constant demoralization and disenfranchisement. This dynamic leads to higher drop out rates.

Either way, it's really not my theory. It's something Thomas Sowell documented in one of his books. Here he is talking about it: "Thomas Sowell: affirmative action creates academic failure & resentment" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVvnTByzTmA.

Sowell is black, if it matters. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sowell.