When President Johnson introduced the Affirmative Action plan under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it stated that minority job contractors were to be evaluated and a specific number were to be recruited to balance the minority/non-minority contracts.
Those who believe minorities still require a leg up and special attention when applying to schools and universities, 50 years after the Act was passed. Those who oppose the continuation of the practice believe that affirmative action has failed to close the gap that existed.
Some believe that over many years, the program that was intended to give minorities an equalizing boost has taken over the college admissions process to the point where qualified candidates who are not minorities are at a disadvantage.
In 1978, the Supreme Court declared that “racial quotas are unconstitutional, but a school’s use of “affirmative action” to admit more minority applications was acceptable under certain conditions.”
Clearly, the distinction between ‘racial quotas’ and ‘affirmative action’ is still being defined as of the present day, if the above statement is as obvious as mud. In the present atmosphere of racism charges, the initial intention of ignoring race has given birth to a deeper definition of race.
ABC reflected:
“In her 2003 opinion upholding affirmative action in higher education, Justice Sandra Day O’Conner famously predicted that in 25 years ‘the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary’ in America. Next week, years after that milestone and with lingering gaps in minority college acceptance and achievement, a new group of justices will decide whether to overrule O’Conner – and more than 40 years of precedent – to declare that admissions policies must be race-blind.”
This issue involves Harvard University, the nation’s oldest private institution, and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest public university, and is about to be considered by the Supreme Court.
ABC continues: “Students for Fair Admissions, a conservative and multi-racial coalition of 22,000 students and parents, sued the schools in 2014 alleging intentional discrimination toward Asian American applicants in violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.”
“Harvard and the University of North Carolina have racially gerrymandered their freshman classes in order to achieve prescribed racial quotas,” Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News.
“It’s very clear to me that Harvard University was engaging in blatant discrimination. And what they were doing was they did not like the fact that Asian-Americans – if they were simply admitted based on their credentials, qualifications – would have such a huge percentage of the student body,” he added.
More on this story via The Republic Brief:
Sentiments are being loudly expressed that race shouldn’t matter at all; that a student’s achievements should be the measure of admission.
“Every college applicant should be judged as a unique individual, not as some representative of a racial or ethnic group,” SFFA Pres Edward Blum. CONTINUE READING…