The Supreme Court has agreed to hear cases brought in 2014 against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina brought by the Students for Fair Admissions.
These lawsuits allege that Harvard discriminates against Asian American students and that the University of North Carolina discriminates against white and Asian American applicants. These challenges to college admission policies are not new, but the decisions may indeed have a different outcome now that the court has a conservative majority.
Affirmative action in education has been one successful strategy used to address centuries of educational and economic inequality in the United States. During a June 4, 1965, speech at Howard University, President Lyndon B. Johnson, whose administration introduced such policies, explained “You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, ‘You are free to compete with all the others,’ and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.”
The return on this investment in affirmative action was quick. The college enrollment numbers of Black students grew from an estimated 227,000 in 1960 to more than 1,000,000 by 1982. Affirmative action was broadened to include women, Native Americans, Hispanics and other minorities. White women may have been one of the groups that benefited most. Between 1967 and 2009, female college enrollment more than doubled from 19% to 44% and their degree completion surged from 15% to more than 40%.
In college admission decisions, race is typically considered as one factor among many. Students are often admitted based on more than just their academic records. Strengths in various areas – e.g., athletic, musical, drama, debate skills, writing ability – as well as unusual experiences and backgrounds, disabilities, etc., are all considered in applications. A student who has had to deal with and overcome discrimination in their young life may have had experiences that others do not. If applicants’ parents have been financial donors to the institution, it is unlikely their child will be denied. Children of alumni, termed legacy students, are 45% more likely to be admitted to highly selective colleges. These legacy admissions are under scrutiny as well, and rightfully so.
With all due respect to the idea of financial reparations for descendants of slaves, affirmative action policies are more productive, more effective and longer lasting. They help create opportunity and generational wealth.
After a 43-year career in education, with 35 of those years at the college level, there is one thing I do know for certain. That is that a diverse classroom is a better classroom, and everyone benefits from it. I don’t just mean racial diversity here. I mean cultural, ethnic, socio-economic, gender, religious, spiritual, sexual identity, disability and political diversity. In short, people who come from different backgrounds and are exposed to different thoughts and ideas gain from that exposure. Those experiences are paid forward to everyone with whom they come in contact.
Affirmative action has shown that it makes a difference. Its contribution to societal progress may be slow and steady, but it is real and lasting. It needs to continue even if one price to pay is that some white or Asian students are not admitted to their first college choice.
