If institutions of higher education are to enjoy open minded campuses, faculty, staff, and students will need to combat beliefs of mismatching so that affirmative action (AA) can keep making a difference. Diversifying schools, giving minorities an opportunity to receive a quality education, and combating stereotypes are three of the many ways AA has had a positive impact. Additionally, institutions can advocate AA’s success in educating minorities by promoting and advertising fellow AA beneficiaries at their campuses. An example would be the showcasing of Sonia Sotomayor, who attended Princeton University thanks to AA. By showcasing minority alumni, universities would be able to attract more minorities to their institutions by simultaneously …show more content…
Mismatching is the belief that the race-based preferences that some institutions provide thanks to AA set minorities up for failure. Due to AA, minorities supposedly fall behind in their studies because they are not used the academic rigor of well-known institutions. Richard H. Sander has advocated the reality of mismatching through his research. However, Sander’s research has been refuted by Richard O. Lempert and other AA specialists. A current economist and law professor at UCLA, Sander is seen as the leading expert on mismatching focusing on the effects of racial preference. Alternatively, Lempert is a professor at the University of Michigan who does research on AA and who submitted an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case: Fisher v. University of Texas. Both individuals have a history researching the effects of AA on minorities and whether they benefit or are supposedly mismatched.
As a minority, I see AA as a great initiative that has been successful in placing minorities into selective institutions for many years, even though some may claim otherwise. Here I explain the presence of mismatching in the world and how it is used to combat AA. I also analyze how discrimination has taken shape in the US due to historical events and how AA can and has served to alter history by changing the notions of our society. Furthermore, the success and failure in institutions of higher education
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UT yet it failed to move the court in favor of Fisher. During this trial, Justice Scalia had the audacity to state that African American students would benefit from attending lesser schools. Such statements have led me to believe that some members of the Supreme Court hold highly discriminatory thoughts towards black students and possibly other minorities. This statement also lacks validity since there is no substantial amount of research that proves this to be correct. Lempert stated, “we live in a world in which lawyers, like others, often locate their offices and seek business among fellow ethnics, and clients seek out as lawyers persons with whom they expect to be comfortable” (Lempert pg.29). The previous statement is aimed at expressing that the discrimination of minorities correlates with how comfortable a person feels around minorities. If a person is part of a minority they will most likely go to another minority for service. Since our nation is not colorblind we must partly rely on AA in order to educate minorities who can help other minorities. Our nation will only achieve colorblindness when discriminatory thoughts are put aside by all