Well, the diversity mission at Rutgers is rarely controversial, and our white population is way below the white population of the state. "More than half" are non-white, according to the website. And because of my familiarity with rutgers forms, I'm inclined to say the "white" group includes white Hispanics and Jews in this context.
And, realistically, the number of white students that got rejected because they were white is fairly low. Because, objectively speaking, if a white student and a black student look the same on paper (same school district, income bracket, and grades), the black student is the one that consistently performed better, because the black student was the one facing systemic oppression and racism.
So there is a performance gap there. It's not easily quantifiable, by any means, but it's there.
That's also why, at Rutgers, if you decide not to do the "optional" essay, you better have a nearly perfect transcript to have any hope of getting in, regardless of your race. They DO read those, and it's the single most-important factor in our acceptances. You can be white, have a ****** transcript, and hand in a really heartfelt essay and get in.
A friend of mine, a hispanic latino woman who spent time growing up in the DR and had a solid transcript, decided not to do the essay (assuming it wouldn't matter at a state school), and got rejected as a result.
/shrug
Honestly, if you're white and you manage to do only slightly better in school than a minorities student, 99 times out of a 100, it's because you didn't put in anywhere near the effort they did in the long run.
Occasionally, the system denies some white kids that deserved a spot. But the system almost certainly denies far more minorities kids who deserved a spot.
To be clear, I'm not trying to sound like I chugged the RU koolaid. It's just that the diversity aspect is one of the few things I do think Rutgers has been doing very well on (even if there's a lot of room for improvement).