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The Pros And Cons Of Affirmative Action

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Affirmative action is a treacherous topic. Our minds struggle to wrap themselves around the controversial policy because of the ambiguity and subjectivity seeping from such vague terms associated with it, such as “diversity” and “cultural awareness.” Thus, we crave evidentiary support and clear guidelines when discussing constitutional law to make it as digestible as possible. Consequently, it is easy to state that affirmative action is simply a lazy, unsubstantiated means of accepting more people of color to make university administrations look good. One of the most pressing concerns that we bring up about affirmative action is the “slippery slope” that it opens when allowed. Suddenly, would universities simply view an applicant by skin …show more content…

The first ascent of the strict scrutiny summit consists of requiring a “governmental compelling interest” (Fisher v. University of Texas 2). What this means is the policy in question must have some governmental compelling interest it is advancing. Now the court in Fisher did affirm that “promoting cross-racial understanding, helping to break down racial stereotypes, and enabling students to better understand persons of different races” constitute compelling governmental interests (Fisher v. University of Texas 12). Because of this, many of us instantly become skeptical, that this jargon is code for universities to subjectively define diversity however they please. However, schools wish for that lenience. Rather, the courts have identified policy after policy that does not promote a “compelling government interest.” For example, quota systems or any system that “increases pure numbers of racial minorities based on mathematical targets” is not compelling enough (Fisher v University of Texas 7). In Gratz v Bollinger (2012), the court found that the University of Michigan’s policy of a complex, statistically modeled point allocation system based on a holistic set of factors including race was not constitutional. In this policy, the University of Michigan altered and improved their admissions policy continuously. Their Office of Undergraduate Admissions devised a set of guidelines pages and pages long, with numerous revisions and correction under the guidance of legal counsel, education experts, and admissions officers at the University of Michigan (Gratz v Bollinger 2). Yet with hundreds of hours of research, consultation, and collaboration, even their complex and carefully crafted points system was still inadequate as numerical points or quotas of racial minorities were found not in furtherance of a compelling

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The second case filed against the University of Michigan is Grutter v. Bollinger (2003). The suit was filed by non-minority applicants who alleged the university for using race as the prevailing factor in admitting students and therefore violated the Equal Protection Clause, Title VI and Section 1981 (Green, 2004, p. 144). In their defense, the University of Michigan argued that the university seeks to ensure their ability to make unique contributions to the character of the student body by enrolling a “meaningful number” of underrepresented minority students (Green, 2004, p. 147). In contrast to the Gratz case, the district court did not follow Justice Powell’s rationale in the Bakke case and the district court ruled in favor of the plaintiff.

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Though in Grutter v. Bollinger we deal with the 14th amendment of the Equal Protection Clause and racial classifications too, the way race is used is slightly differs. In this particular case, the court had to decide whether the use of race at the Univeristy of Michigan Law School during the admissions process violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment. Barbara Grutter, a Caucasian applicant, applied to the University of Michigan in 1996 with a 3.8 GPA and a score of 161 on her LSAT. Grutter was placed on the waitlist, but was subsequently denied admission to the school. Grutter claims that she was only denied because of her race, as the University uses race as a factor in the admission process.

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Fisher, but they held the the Court of Appeals did not hold the University’s admission policies to a standard of strict scrutiny so the judgement was incorrect. In previous judicial precedent in cases dealing with minority admissions, the Court has held that they are reviewable under the fourteenth amendment, these such cases must be held to a standard of strict scrutiny to determine whether the policies are precisely tailored to serve a compelling governmental interest. If the policy does not meet this standard, then race can not be considered in any admissions process. The Court stated the it was the job of the reviewing court to verify that the University policy in question was necessary to achieve a more diverse student body and the any race-neutral alternative would not achieve the same level of diversity. The Supreme Court said the lower courts did not conduct a sufficient strict scrutiny examination in this case.

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