The University of California was the first big affirmative action case in history. It set a precedent that would help future Supreme Courts with their decisions. The precedent was that colleges could take race and nationality into effect while considering students for admission, but could not make it a sole requirement. In this case, Bakke was refused entry 2 consecutive years. The university had a quota system set up that 16 of the 100 spots open for that program would go to minorities, and Bakke argued that this was unconstitutional.
Affirmative Action vs. Diversity Cara Graham 05/24/2012 Eng 308J Affirmative action is trying to accomplish the diversity of college students admitted. But diversity and affirmative action aren’t the same. Affirmative action is centered on moral and social responsibility to modify wrongs done in the past to those Americans who were not of the majority population. It focuses on taking positive steps to get individuals into the organization. Diversity works to change the culture of that organization.
English 1301 02/02/12 Summary Response Essay “The Diversity Imperative” by Amara Phillip The article “The Diversity Imperative” written by Amara Phillip is a discussion of two Supreme Court cases, Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger, which advocates the affirmative action and removes the racial discrimination in college entrance and unconstitutional admission policies. According to Phillip, the case was sued by white applicants from the University of Michigan demanding that they were denied the entrance because of their race. The results from this events created more methods of recruiting students into universities, one of this methods is the automatic admission to 10 percent students and the “socio economic model” ,which gives the low income and the working class students of all races a more desirable college entrance. On the other hand, these cases had provoked conflicts in many states; they want to prohibit public colleges from using race preferences and hold to what they call an “informal” point system. With this in mind, a holistic system began to be the new process of admission to college and larger universities, like UCLA, makes race a major factor for admissions.
This case saw by the Supreme Court justified educational admissions to sort by race in good faith and made the concept of diversity when dealing with education to be constitutionally acceptable. This case has tremendous influence on the Fisher vs. the University of Texas et al. because it brings forth the notion of the degree to which schools use race as a factor in the application process. (Liptak) The United States District Court in W.D. Texas the Austin division had a judge that ruled in favor of the defendants, the University of Texas and found that their policy was “narrowly tailored to further a compelling government interest” which therefore made it constitutional under the Equal Protection Clause under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Even when this was challenged in the Plessy vs Ferguson Supreme Court case the separate but equal principle was found to be constitutional. Similarly the principle of separate but equal in education was also found to be constitutional in the Cummings vs Board of education Supreme Court case. According to the 15th amendment, all African Americans should have been able to vote. However due to high levels of illiteracy and poverty among African Americans this was not possible because of literacy tests and poll taxes, which excluded both African Americans and white people who were poor and illiterate. These voting restrictions were challenged in the Mississippi vs Williams Supreme Court case but it was maintained that the restrictions did not go against the 15th amendment and so they continued.
By protecting and giving preference to minorities, Affirmative Action unwarily discriminates against the majority, therefore contradicting its own intent for equal opportunity. This is evident in the 2003 case involving Michigan State University, which gave exclusive advantages to underrepresented ethnic groups and in turn denied the admission of a Caucasian student with better qualifications. The student, Jennifer Gratz, was
Many wonder why there are so many undocumented students in this country. There is one reason to this the DREAM Act has not passed since introduced in congress. The DREAM Act is a law that grants the undocumented students of this country to gain legal status after studying here for all of high school and 2 years of college or have either joined the armed services. I wonder why the government of this country doesn’t help the undocumented students. In my research I came across the following questions that lead me think what reason does the government have to not pass the DREAM Act.
Affirmative Action Laws: Are They Fair? PHI 103 Dr. LaCasta-Revell June 4, 2010 Affirmative Action Laws: Are They Fair? In an ideal society, race and gender should not be used as the determining factors when considering admission to universities, hiring, or government contracts, but racism and oppression have frequently described the minority experience in the United States. Affirmative action recognizes that in order to put an end to racist practices, race must be taken into account. Affirmative action policies attempt to counterbalance discrimination against women and minorities in employment and education, and give disadvantaged minorities a boost.
Macomb Community College serves a blue-collar community in Michigan where the importance of higher education often took a backseat to learning trades that supported the skill based workforce. Moreover, declining state funding in the 1970s put a new added strain on the once growing community college. While this seems like a reoccurring challenge faced by many institutions across our country, leading to a number of similar responses, it is the distinct response that sets Macomb Community College apart from other campaigns. To overcome the wall ahead of them, the college needed its campaign to successfully reach two goals, the first being, “conduct a highly visible public information program clearly demonstrating MCC’s commitment to the community and promoting the value of higher education.” The second and ultimate goal was to pass two ballot proposals in a coming election granting the college more state funding. Like any campaign, the next step was to research the issues at hand.
The Civil Rights Act that had set up the idea of affirmative action was created in 1964. By 1978 the famous case we have heard of known as the Bakke case had been in the courts. In this case a white male was denied admission into the University of California's medical school. Because of the affirmative action case that had been set up in 1964, less qualified individuals were accepted to this medical school whereas he was not because he was not of a minority. There are several cases about education and the affirative actions concept that have made it to the supreme court.