Affirmative Action...

1. Affirmative Action... and its effect on “white” students in the college admissions process

2. DISCLAIMER The information we are about to present is a compilation of research collected about what is perceived by some Americans as being a social injustice. Affirmative action is a highly controversial issue with no right or wrong answer, explicitly apparent in the Supreme Court’s ongoing differences of opinion as to the policy’s constitutionality. The opinion of affirmative action that we are portraying is not necessarily representative of the opinions of members of this group, but rather a representation of what some Americans view as a social problem.

3. AffirmativeAction Affirmative action is a policy to encourage equal opportunity and to level the playing field for groups of people who have been and are discriminated against. According to the Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC), affirmative action “is considered essential to assuring that jobs are genuinely and equally accessible to qualified persons, without regard to their race, sex, or ethnic background”. Provisions were later added to protect women, people with disabilities, and the elderly. Affirmative action has its origins in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, enacted to eliminate racial imbalances in hiring policies and later college admissions and government contracts.

4. The Issue Sarah and Maria are both seniors at a Manhattan public high school Sarah Maria • 1410 SAT (800 V/610 M) • Top 5% of her class • Varsity Field Hockey (4 years; Captain – senior year) • Editor-in-chief of Yearbook • Student Government (4 years; President – senior year) • Volunteering: tutoring elementary school students at a local public school • Church Youth Group • Class Scholar (“most well-rounded student”, the school’s equivalent of Valedictorian) • 1120 SAT (510 V/610 M) • Top 10% of her class • Varsity Softball (2 years) • Candids Editor of Yearbook • Chorus, School Musicals (2 years) • Volunteering: tutoring elementary school students at a local public school • Science Department Award

5. Here’s where they each applied… Sarah Maria Tufts Harvard Georgetown University of Michigan Fordham Tufts Trinity Marist University of Connecticut Connecticut College Let’s see how they did…

6. Sarah Maria Tufts – W.L., later rejected Harvard - Accepted Georgetown - Accepted University of Michigan - Accepted Fordham - Accepted Tufts - Accepted Trinity - Accepted Marist - Accepted University of Connecticut - Accepted Connecticut College - Accepted Did we mention that Sarah is categorically “white” and Maria is “hispanic”? Hmmmm….

7. Implications of Affirmative Action in the college admissions process • the process has been reduced to a race orientation rather than a combination of grades, test scores, alumni status, personal talents (athletics, art, music, theater), region of the country, ethnic status, extra-curricular activities (volunteerism), number of seats in a program, etc… • benefits and burdens are obtained for reasons other than merit; the concept of merit is waived in favor of a race-conscious decision • holds whites responsible for insufficiencies in the education system and wrongs made by whites in the past • white Europeans are often consolidated into the “white” classification although they are part of a minority in the United States • whites become “invisible victims” because it is generally not disclosed as to which students who were rejected could have been accepted without the presence of affirmative action

8. More Implications… • causes racial resentment • people of color are stigmatized • whites are often assumed to have full opportunities in society while in many cases they may be experiencing the same or even more deficiencies that society claims are often inevitable for many minorities • institutionalization of consideration of race in higher education (as well as the workplace) means that it will become increasingly difficult to depart from that process and be able to eventually phase out affirmative action completely • white students being rejected in favor of minority students with equal or lesser qualifications does not solve the problem of discrepancies in education, which is a primary demand for affirmative action in recent times • US law as well as other institutions should be colorblind – continuing programs that divide by race only perpetuates existence of a nation divided by color • preference to minorities is seen as discrimination against non-minorities

9. SOME STATISTICS… Harvard UCLA School of Law • non-Jewish white – 25% • (75% of general population) • Asian American – 20% • (2-3% of general population) • African American – 8% • (12% of general population) • Hispanic – 7% • (10% of general population) • Jewish – 30% • (2-3% of general population) • Statistics are before and after enactment of the California Civil Rights Initiative (1996) – Fall ’96 and Fall ‘97 • White enrollment:  14% • Asian American enrollment:  7% • African American enrollment: 108/21 • * Affirmative action caused 144 white and Asian American students with equal or higher academic credentials to be turned away in favor of African Americans Source: www.ncpa.org

10. Shelby Steele an African-American woman who opposes Affirmative Action “Distinctions based on race are the same distinctions that caused me to go to a segregated school when I was a kid, so I know the other side of it. It’s evil, and any time that we give racial distinctions play in public policy we hurt people-someone’s going to be at the wrong end.” –S. Steele - Young Black Americans have been given the message that they don’t have to compete within education admissions and employment applications because their race will help them based on the idea of “disincentive”: ‘no matter how you perform, we’re going to let you in’. - Abolishment of double standard-in order to give Blacks ability and incentive to compete with other young people.

11. Court Cases debating the use of Affirmative Action • Grutter v. Bollinger • Upheld Justice Powell’s “plus” process • Affirmative Action is still constitutional • Regents of the University of California v. Bakke • Rulings sated that race could be a consideration in the admission to colleges and universities, but only in a small limited effect • Justice Powell said that race could be a “plus” to an individual • Gratz v. Bollinger • Affirmative Action is unconstitutional when it gives an unfair advantage • Race cannot be decisive in admissions processes