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Erin Rogers

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Caruso
UWRT 1103-017
December 1, 2015
What Is Affirmative Action Really Doing?
Affirmative action was first put into place in order to reverse discrimination in society and

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allow people of all races to have an equal opportunity to succeed. However, this term

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immediately raised a lot of controversy and brought an array of questions to the table. Many

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people are still questioning the affect and fairess of affirmative action when being used in the
admissions process of universities. Some believe it is truly helping individuals and society as a

Deleted: Affirmative action is used in order to create

diversity and reverse discrimination.
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and employment opportunities.

whole, while others disagree and are against it. Although it is firmly believed that having
diversity in the classroom is beneficial, throughout the years there have been several legal cases

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and arguments which have exposed the evils of affirmative action. With this current situation, the

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question of what it is really doing to society still arises today.

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When the Kennedy Administration first established the words affirmative action in the
mid1900s, scholars and other important figures brought negative attention to the idea claiming
that people arent actually benefitting from it. Even Clarence Thomas, who advanced due to

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affirmative action himself, defended the opposing side and said that students are being placed
below their education level (Slater). This brought up the theory of mismatch, which Dan Slater

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defines as the idea that affirmative action can harm those its supposed to help by placing them
at schools in which they fall below the median level of ability and therefore have a tough time"
(Slater). This can occur given that students are being accepted into these prestigious schools
because to their race. If they dont hare enough experience and knowledge, they have a greater

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chance of not doing well in class and ultimately not succeeding in the future.
To try and prove that mismatch does exist and that it is hurting the minority Richard H.
Sander, a law professor at UCLA, conducted a study. He followed a number of black law school
students, some who went to their first choice school (the elite school) and some who went to
their second choice, and took note of how they did on the bar exam (an exam after law school).
His data concluded that more students who went to their first choice school failed the test than
those who went to their second choice school. This was proof for him and others that affirmative
action is not always helping the minority.
Aside from this, other studies were conducted to see if race had a true impact on students

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getting admitted into a school as well. Data from the Association of American Medical Colleges

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showed that Hispanic students with average GPAs and average MCAT scores were about twice
as likely to be accepted to medical school compared to white applicants" and black students were
"2.44 times more likely than white applicants. (Perry) Ethnicity is playing a role in admissions
according to this specific data and it is outweighing academics to a certain extent.
Although mismatching can be one big negative aspect of affirmative action, supporters
claim that it is fair. According to The Office of Equal Opportunities Program, all decisions must
be based on merit and accepting a person based on race, national origin/ethnicity, sex, or

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prestigious schools like UCLA with race in mind are not
always benefiting due to the fact that their education level is
not where it should be for that specific school. If they are not
at a high enough level they have a greater chance of not
doing well in class and ultimately not succeeding in the
future.

anything other than qualifications is generally prohibited (Top Ten Most Frequently Asked

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Questions. They make it clear that applicants must meet all education requirements in order to be

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admitted and race is not a determining factor. However, it is explained that affirmative action is

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used to compensate for past discriminatory practices by helping the minority be informed of all

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opportunities available to them (Top Ten Most Frequently Asked Questions).

The affirmative action plan is comprised of four steps including the utilization analysis, the

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... [1]

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workforce analysis, the goal and timetables, and the narrative. Within these four sections they

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look at the demographics of a certain university and determine if a specific group is

"underutilized" meaning that they are underrepresented. In order to fix this issue placement goals

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are put into place rather than quotas. These goals are reached by trying to make sure that all,

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but rather sets goals to reach.

including the minority and majority, are looked at equally. Based on these standards all students

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are given an equal chance of being accepted or hired. (Top Ten Most Frequently Asked
Questions)
However, two woman went up against the University of Michigan to try and prove that this
isnt the case and that affirmative action is unjust. They argued that because they were white they

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were denied admission into the school. Two separate cases emerged from this argument, one
being Gratz v. Bollinger which was aimed at the undergraduate admissions process and the other
was Grutter v. Bollinger which was directed at the law school. In the case dealing with the law
school admissions, Grutter lost the argument. The court agreed with the school that diversity

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within the classroom is good but it was made clear that affirmative action could only be used for
this reason and should not determine a students admittance into the university. They found that
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the school did follow this guideline and as a result the admissions process was not declared

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unconstitutional. Also, there was no quota or point system set in place that would inhibit any
individual from being accepted because of their identity. In conclusion, the university was
looking at the race of an applicant but it was not proved to be a determining factor.
Unlike the result of Grutter v. Bollinger, the case dealing with undergraduate admissions
was declared unconstitutional. It was revealed that the university was using a point system where
a student had to earn 100 points to be accepted. The downfall was that those with a different
ethnicity got an additional 20 points. This made it clear that affirmative action was violating the

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Moved up [1]: The court agreed with the school that
diversity within the classroom is good but it was made clear
that affirmative action could only be used for this reason and
should not determine a students admittance into the
university.
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Equal Protection Clause because not everyone was being looked at the same and given an equal
chance to get into the school. Even with lower academic levels, students of the minority had a

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greater chance of being accepted.

After this Supreme Court decision in 2003 many presidents of colleges became
concerned that affirmative action was on its way to becoming banned. Statistics have shown that
races of the minority are underrepresented and with more than half of universities using
affirmative action as a way to solve this issue, cutting it from admissions will damage the
diversity that currently exists (Hamacek). A sociology professor, Julien Go, explains that a

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used to see if race had a true impact on students getting
admitted into a school as well. Data from the Association of
American Medical Colleges showed that Hispanic students
with average GPAs and average MCAT scores were about
twice as likely to be accepted to medical school compared to
white applicants" and black students were "2.44 times more
likely than white applicants. (Perry) Ethnicity is playing a
role in admissions according to this specific data and it is
outweighing academics to a certain extent.
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students educational experience can be enhanced by being surrounded with people of different

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ethnicities because it will broaden their outlook on society (Hamacek). Therefore, if affirmative
action is eliminated, students could lose a unique experience that can only be accomplished by
having a diverse student body.
Also, without affirmative action some believe that racial stereotypes within society will
become the norm. Many recent racial issues have been linked to the killings of black teenagers
within the last several years including Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Jordan Davis. In one

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Deleted: Data reveals that a diverse classroom widens
students views of the world and its differences. Being
surrounded by people with differing races, beliefs and
religions enriches everyones educational experience
(Hamacek) and can alter their perspectives in a positive way.
(Hamacek) More than half of universities use affirmative
action in order to add different groups of people to their
schools and without it this diversity within schools can
quickly decline.

experiment, white people were timed to see how long it took them to "categorize positive and
negative words after experiencing a visual cue of a white or black person" (Wicks-Lim).

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Participants took longer to respond when a black person had a positive word than when a white

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person did. These results showed that minds in society associate negative attributes with people
of different races other than white. This further confirms why supporters believe affirmative
action should be used to make schools more racially diverse. They think it is an important antiracism tool (Wicks-Lim) that will expose students to situations involving all races reducing

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racial stereotyping that is currently happening.

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Even with all of these positive statistics supporting affirmative action, states are slowly
starting to eliminate it. Eight states including California, Washington, Nebraska, Arizona, New

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society and they don't want it to end
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Hampshire, Texas, Michigan and Oklahoma, experienced a drop in the number of minority
students within schools because of the ban. When California passed Proposition-209 in 1996

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which "barred the consideration of race in public university admissions, (Potter) major schools
like UCLA and Berkley were hurt due to the significant decrease in the number of African
Americans and Latinos enrolled. However, overtime these schools have found ways to gain

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diversity without the use of affirmative action.

Richard D. Kahlenberg says that schools now rely on socioeconomic status in order to

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boost the number of minorities. Universities look at a student's economic standing and reward
more financial aid to those with low-income. One study showed that 86% of African-Americans
are middle or upper class and that whites are higher up than that economically (Kahlenberg). As
a result, more minorities like African-Americans and Latinos are enrolling to schools because
they are given financial aid making it a realistic possibility to attend. Another alternative to
affirmative action thats being used to create diversity is the percent plan. This strategy
guarantees students who graduate at the top of their class admission into a university within that

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due to money issues. But, Richard D. Kahlenberg explains
that schools now rely on socioeconomic status in order to
boost the number of minorities. Universities look at a
student's economic standing and reward more financial aid to
those with low-income. (Kahlenberg)
Moved up [2]: But, Richard D. Kahlenberg explains that
schools now rely on socioeconomic status in order to boost
the number of minorities.
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state. These create geographic, socioeconomic and racial diversity because students from all

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regions whether they are highly populated with whites, blacks, Hispanics, the rich or the poor,

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are being accepted into schools (Potter).

Regardless of these new plans, society is still challenging universities and how they are
applying affirmative action to admission processes. In one of the most recent cases, a student
named Abigail Fisher claimed she was denied her admission into the University of Texas

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high schools admission into public schools.
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action.
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diversity and eliminating racial tensions but it also shows
that some schools are using it unfairly.
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because she was white just like the University of Michigan cases. After going through three

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courts, the last one finally ruled 7-1 in favor of the University of Texas on November 13, 2013
(Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin). But, Fisher along with others are continuing to fight

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against affirmative action and as a result more schools are eliminating the practice. The new
question that is now arising is how can we change affirmative action policies to be more fair and
what other methods could be used to create diversity?

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More and more court cases like this are arising dealing with
how universities are declining whites admissions due to the
use of affirmative action. Along with this people are seeing
the how it is being abused and the negative sides of it. With
more bans being placed on schools stating that race cannot
be a factor of admissions the question about whether or not
affirmative action is helping or harming is changing.
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Works Cited
Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. 20 September 2015. 2 October 2015.
<http://tarltonguides.law.utexas.edu/fisher-ut>.

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Hamacek, Heather. Affirmative action positive at universities, report suggests. 7 March 2013. 1
October 2015. <http://dailyfreepress.com/2013/03/07/affirmative-action-positive-atuniversities-report-suggests/>.
Kahlenberg, Richard D. No Longer Black and White. 12 March 2014. 1 October 2015.
<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/03/california_affir
mative_action_ban_why_liberals_should_let_it_stand.html#lf_comment=145011912>.
McBride, Alex. Landmark Cases. December 2006. 1 October 2015.
<http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/future/landmark_grutter.html>.
Perry, Mark J. Acceptance rates at US medical schools in 2013 . 1 July 2014. 1 October 2015.
<https://www.aei.org/publication/acceptance-rates-at-us-medical-schools-in-2013-revealracial-profiling-and-affirmative-discrimination-for-blacks-hispanics/>.
Potter, Halley. What Can We Learn from States That Ban Affirmative Action? 26 June 2014. 2
October 2015. <http://www.tcf.org/work/education/detail/what-can-we-learn-from-statesthat-ban-affirmative-action>.
Slater, Dan. Does Affirmative Action Do What It Should? 16 March 2013. 1 October 2015.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/opinion/sunday/does-affirmative-action-do-whatit-should.html?_r=4>.
Top Ten Most Frequently Asked Questions. 20 June 2012. 1 October 2015.
<http://www.virginia.edu/eop/AA%20Plan%20FAQs%205-1-09.html>.
Wicks-Lim, Jeannette. Why We All Need Affirmative Action. 1 December 2014. 1 October 2015.
<http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/12/01/why-we-all-need-affirmativeaction>.

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Rogers, Erin

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