Obama's Arguments Against Affirmative Action

At least four Supreme Court justices believe that affirmative action is unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Roberts has said that “the way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race”. This viewpoint offers no differentiation between “race consciousness” and “racism”, but is a quite common opinion. This sort of viewpoint is what may drive America towards class-based rather than race-based affirmative action. Because of the disparities in income and wealth, minorities are as likely as whites to benefit under a class-based policy. However, there’s a certain perversion to admission policies like this, policies like UT’s “top 10” program. These policies leverage their racial diversity via neighborhood, and thus public high school, segregation. As Jamelle Bouie write in a Slate article on the

Affirmative action was designed by the federal government and seemed to be a strong tactic but there are many imperfections in this policy. For example, California vs Bakke is a famous court case based off of reverse discrimination. A white male by the name Allan Bakke was denied admission to The University of California medical school. Instead of picking Bakke the school accepted a less qualified black male because the school must accept at least 16 minorities out of 100 into the medical program. The university uses race as an aid to admit minorities and increase diversity instead of accepting well qualified individuals. In the end the Supreme Court supported the lawfulness of affirmative action, but restricted its practice. The court’s ruling

“Affirmative Action may not be a perfect system, but there should be no doubt that it has endangered many successes. It has opened the doors of America’s most elite educational institutions to minority students, granting them unprecedented opportunities” (Ogletree 12). Thanks to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson a policy that prohibits employment and education discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, and sex is offered today to those who suffer from said discriminations (A Brief History). Affirmative action has opened abundant openings for minorities, allowing the cycle of going to college to be passed down generations and provided job opportunities that otherwise would not be considered by most. Affirmative

According to the dominant theory the affirmative action was firstly introduced to deal with two types of social disruption in the 1960s as campus protests and urban riots in the North. However, this article is based on different theory as dominant theory's empirical evidence is limited. It examines the initial reason for advent of race-conscious affirmative action in 17 undergraduate institutions in the United States. And according to the research this article concludes that there were two waves that contributed to affirmative action: 1) first wave in the early 1960s introduced by northern college administrators 2) second wave in the late 1960s introduced as a response to the protests of campus-based students. This article will help me to establish the main reasons for introduction of race-conscious affirmative action in undergraduate

Throughout many of the affirmative action legal cases, one of the main arguments from proponents is that it is necessary in order to right the wrongs of past racial discrimination. Some say that affirmative action is justified because even though white applicants may be more qualified, this is only because they did not face the same hardships as their minority counterparts (Rachels, Ethics, 1973).  Many argue if we do not integrate disadvantaged minorities into mainstream social institutions, they will continue to suffer the discrimination that has plagued our country for centuries and that this is detrimental to not only the minorities but also society as a whole (Anderson, 2002, 1270–71). However, the debate has recently shifted to the benefits of diversity in the classroom which the Supreme Court has affirmed as being a positive thing

In this landmark case Allan Bakke, a white applicant to the University of California, Davis Medical School, sued claiming his denial of admission on racial grounds was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The standing rule at the time was that race may be a factor in determining admission to educational institutions; however it cannot be the sole determining factor.

For many years, there has been a great deal of controversies on whether standardized tests should be used for college admissions. Standardized testing started in America over 50 years ago and are today, more pressure-packed and ubiquitous than ever before. The first standardized test was developed in 1959 by Professor Everett Franklin Lindquist. Many admissions counselors depend on a student’s ACT and SAT scores a great deal when determining if they should accept the student or not. Though many feel that these tests are a good thing and should continue to be used, others disagree due to the numerous problems that have been discovered when reviewing students SAT and ACT scores. Many feel that the tests are unfair and this is why standardized

Barbara Grutter (plaintiff) which is a resident of Michigan who was denied admissions into the University of Michigan Law School. Lee Bollinger (defendant) was president of the University of Michigan. Grutter filed this suit because the University had discriminated against the basis of race. Supreme Court ruled that the use of affirmative action in school admissions is constitutional if it treats race as some factor. Is affirmative action still necessary for guaranteeing equal access to educational opportunities at elite universities and graduate schools? Should admissions decisions be based solely on academic criteria and merit?

In the United States’ current political climate, “racism” is a term thrown around so often that it almost begins to lose its original definition. The same can be said when discussing and analyzing the success rate of minority students in higher education. People are inclined to jump to the conclusion that a faculty member or institution is inherently racist instead of looking at all of the factors involved in a student’s success. The three main factors that I will be covering over the course of this essay are school tuition rates, Affirmative Action policies, and how schools handle discipline. While there are cases of inarguable racism within higher education, an in-depth analysis of the factors stated above will prove that “racism” is not

The use of race in college admissions is found to be unconstitutional. Up and until this point in time, the court has generally ruled that promoting educational diversity is in fact a compelling state objective, but in today’s America, educational diversity has been established and is thriving. In this day and age, using race as a factor in college admissions is not needed. The Fourteenth amendment ensures the equal protection of the law to each and every citizen. We may not discriminate in order to promote

questioned the use of affirmative action in applications. The medical school of the University of

When I first started researching Fisher vs. Texas, I believed discrimination in college applications was very wrong and unlawful. I believed everyone should have a fair opportunity to go to the school of their choice. As I researched the issue more, it became apparent to me that diversity is truly important to our learning experiences while in college. In college, diversity has taught me many different viewpoints and has helped me understand different cultures. The learning aspect is important but I also believe that students that come from poorer communities and challenging childhoods should have an opportunity to attend top universities. The alarming differences in pay will only continue to increase if African Americans and other races do not have the opportunity to attend college. Diversity is important to the American culture and we need equality for all races to move forward as a country.

The benefits of Affirmative Action are meant to level the opportunities for African Americans in all aspects of American life. After Kennedy’s implementation, President Johnson and his administration extended Affirmative Action benefits to more groups of people in the promotion of social equality throughout the United States. With Affirmative Action still in effect today, the United States of America more than remedied the initial loopholes of federal benefits with the first drafts. To continue to further extend federal benefits for Affirmative Action today could completely reverse the original scenario in time and create even more inequalities within the American political system. Affirmative Action helped the remedy the disadvantage African Americans faced and create equal opportunities for more social groups. If Affirmative Action stays in effect, nothing further should be done by the United States government, African Americans have all the civil rights that white Americans have and if they face discrimination as a result of their race, they have opportunities to remedy the

After carefully reviewing the oral argument and brief of case 14-191, Abigail Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, I was impressed how well the plaintiff attorney argued her defense during the trail. The litigations were as stated, in 2008, the UT Austin enrollment department wrongfully denied admission based upon the school considered race discrimination in its admission process because Fisher was a white female student, and because of her inadequate academic achievements. Fisher lawyer focus adequately on the highlight of the case by persuading the court that she would have gotten accepted into the university if she wasn’t stereotyped on such matters: race, top 10 percent student, grades, test scores which she refer to as personal achievement index. UT at Austin attorneys really didn’t have much leading factories to propose a concrete objective. In the argument Fisher attorney used the Justice Powell‘s example on Bakke system to support is statement. Many students attended the university felt unimportant and spoke out loudly about being isolated. During the cross-examination the university argued that African Americans, Hispanic, and Asian students were denied entry for not meeting college admission requirements, not because of race.

“Universities all over the country are breathing a sigh of relief,” Sherrilyn Ifill ("Fisher v. University of Texas”). The final decision of the court case Fisher v. Texas, ruled against student Abigail Fisher; rejecting her opinion that colleges taking in consideration of race as a factor of acceptances is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment ("Fisher v University of Texas Syllabus”). This means that, when deciding among a pool of qualified applicants, a university can consider an applicant’s race, along with his or her test scores, grades, such things as extracurricular activities, athletic or musical ability, and special achievements outside school. Miss Fisher filed a suit after being outraged that she was declined by the color of her skin ("Fisher v. University of Texas”). The Supreme Court made a mistake when they decided with the University of Texas; no college should take in race as a factor when selecting applications of students.