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President John F. Kennedy uses "affirmative action"
President Kennedy delivers Executive Order 10925 and uses affirmative action for the first time. He enforces a policy that states that government contractors cannot discriminate against employees based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. This prevented intentional discrimination from happening with government contractors. This order was one of the first few instances of government trying to stabilize the divide between groups of American people. Johnson would continue this. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This piece of legislation passed under Lyndon B. Johnson holds that employers of more than 15 employees cannot discriminate based on race, color, religion, creed, national origin, or sex. This legislation was huge because it expanded on the concept delivered by Kennedy to businesses around the country. This was designed in an effort to give minorities an entry-way into jobs, however it has developed into a controversial issue with race now becoming an additional qualification for many places. -
Regents v. Bakke Supreme Court Decision
The Supreme Court decision held that racial quotas are unconstitutional and cannot be used to determine acceptance into a college. However, the decision held that race can still be used as a factor in the college admissions process. This decision is important because it set the precedent for many cases that would come after it like Fisher v. UT Austin where race would be used as a factor for college admissions. The elimination of racial quotas has led to new measures for increasing diversity. -
California Proposition 209 Enacted
Prop 209 was passed with the intent to equalize opportunity for all applying for university admissions, public employment, or competition for a state contract. This legislation was designed so that these places can't discriminate or give preference based on immutable characteristics. This legislation serves as an important marker against affirmative action. Many activists pushed for its judgement under the Supreme Court which never happened. It set precedent for laws in states like Michigan. -
Ricci v. DeStefano Supreme Court Case
This Supreme Court Case was presented with a case where White and Hispanic firefighters were suing city officials of New Haven, CT for discarding their certification results. City officials argued that they weren't certified because a disproportionate number of white would've been promoted. The court argued that employers must have real reason to believe it's subject to discrimination in order to do something like this. Also, the firefighters 14th amendment and Title VII rights were violated. -
Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin Supreme Court Decision
This Supreme Court case was between Abigail N. Fisher who was a Caucasian female who was applying to UT Austin. UT Austin stated that it would admit all students who made the top ten percent of their class and for the rest of the applicants it would use race as a factor. Fisher sued as under the argument that it violated the 14th amendment. She lost and the court affirmed the opinion that colleges can't use race quotas, but courts can seek diverse students through race factors. -
Students For Fair Admissions, Inc. V. Harvard University Lawsuit
This court case is between SFFA which represents Asian Americans against Harvard University. SFFA, the plaintiff, claims that Harvard has needlessly punished Asian-Americans with an affirmative action system which is too harsh. The case has reached the federal Court of Appeals in the 1st Circuit. Judgement is in favor of Harvard, however, SFFA states that they will take this case to the Supreme Court if they have to. This case could decide the constitutionality of affirmative action. -
Affirmative Action Today
The affirmative action debate has two sides with progressives arguing that it helps colleges promote an atmosphere of diversity and inclusion. The result is that minority status could be a large determiner of your eligibility. It also lack of faith in education as a whole. Republicans contend that affirmative action hurts individuals who do well like Asian Americans as represented in the Harvard lawsuit. The result is that it leads to certain minorities lacking in representation at colleges. -
Analysis
The part of this issue that has changed the most is the attitude on how affirmative action should be implemented. The courts have largely decided over time that affirmative action should be a reasonable means to an end. This means using all other reasonable alternatives and determining that racial factoring can be one of the only options. The concept of affirmative action has received support in that it is allowed by the courts, but the states can block the policy of affirmative action outright. -
Predictions
Over time, it is evident that affirmative action will slowly be removed from college campuses over time. Public opinion of affirmative action has slowly turned towards a negative attitude. Many states have already banned affirmative action outright like in California with Prop 209. The opinion held by the courts that it wasn't unconstitutional to use race as a factor as long as there wasn't a reasonable alternative to meeting the colleges goals. It seems as though that opinion is changing. -
Citations
Fisher v. University of Texas. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/2012/11-345 Geshekter, C. (2008, September 25). The Effects of Proposition 209 on California: Higher Education, Public Employment, and Contracting by Charles Geshekter. Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://www.nas.org/blogs/article/the_effects_of_proposition_209_on_california_higher_education_public_employ -
Citations
California Affirmative Action, Proposition 209 (1996). (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://ballotpedia.org/California_Affirmative_Action,_Proposition_209_(1996) Ricci v. DeStefano. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/2008/07-1428 NCC Staff. (2013, June 24). Affirmative action: Timeline of 10 major cases and orders. Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/affirmative-action-timeline-of-10-major-cases-and-orders -
Citations
History of Affirmative Action: American Association for Access Equity and Diversity. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://www.aaaed.org/aaaed/history_of_affirmative_action.asp Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard University. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://www.acenet.edu/News-Room/Pages/Students-for-Fair-Admissions-Inc-v-Harvard-Diversity-in-Admissions-Case.aspx -
Citations
Affirmative Action Fast Facts. (2019, November 13). Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://www.cnn.com/2013/11/12/us/affirmative-action-fast-facts/index.html California Proposition 209. (2013, February 21). Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://emgarcia456.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/california-proposition-209/ -
Citations
Dharapak, C. (2009, July 16). We all want what Ricci wants: fairness. Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/race/2009/07/watching-frank-ricci-the-lead-plaintiff-in-the-ricci-v-destefano-case-testify-during-judge-sonia-sotomayors-us-suprem.html EasyBib Staff. (2020, January 1). When is the Right Time to Start Making Citations? Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://www.easybib.com/guides/when-to-make-citations/ -
Citations
Executive order 10925. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://executive-order-10925-nca.peatix.com/ Ford, M. (2016, June 23). U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Affirmative-Action Challenge. Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/06/fisher-university-of-texas/470676/ -
Citations
Jackson, A. (2016, January 6). This top public university is getting more diverse in spite of a ban on affirmative action. Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://www.businessinsider.com/university-of-michigan-had-a-jump-in-black-and-latino-students-2016-1 Kahlenberg, R. D., Kahlenberg, R. D., Kahlenberg, R. D., Miller, K., Mishory, J., Cao, Y., … Mishory, J. (2016, April 10). The Future of Affirmative Action. Retrieved from https://tcf.org/content/report/future-of-affirmative-action/ -
Citations
Kim, C. J. (2019, October 8). For Chinese American Conservatives, Race Is a Weapon. Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/asian-conservatives-affirmative-action/ Sutori. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://www.sutori.com/item/regents-of-u-of-c-v-bakke-1978-court-ruled-the-universities-use-of-racial-qu -
Citations
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2019, January 3). Civil Rights Act. Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/event/Civil-Rights-Act-United-States-1964 The History Book Club - CIVIL RIGHTS: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Showing 1-15 of 15. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/417981-affirmative-action
