Affirmative Action

By Towanna Hogue

Merriam -Webster defines affirmative action as the use of policies, legislation, programs, and procedures to improve the educational or employment opportunities of members of certain demographic groups (such as minority groups, women, and older people) as a remedy to the effects of long-standing discrimination against such groups). Affirmative action was supposed to levy the playing field and give minorities a fighting chance to succeed at our place of employment and be admitted into a college/university, especially among those of a legacy admission into college.

Recently, the Supreme Court has made it against the law for colleges/universities to consider race as a factor in the admissions process. This ruling will reduce the ethnic diversity of students. Some have said since the ruling that the admissions process needs an overall restructuring. Before the ruling, nine states had already banned racebased affirmative action for public colleges/ universities, including Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Washington. Many of these states had already seen a decline in minorities attending their colleges/universities before the ruling. In previous reports, data showed a decline in the state university systems in both California and Michigan. Despite creating other strategetic recruitment tactics, their efforts have failed.

Zack Mabel, a professor of education and economics at Georgetown and an author of the research, stated, “The more information that you are able to consider about the educational opportunities and disadvantages that an individual has had in their life, the better you as an admissions officer are going to be at understanding who is going to be a qualified applicant.”

Mildred García, president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, stated, “Fifty years since the passage of civil rights legislation has not been nearly enough to address or correct more than 350 years of discriminatory practices intended to keep people of color away from higher education institutions or, starting in the 19th century, severely limit their prospects of increasing their educational attainment.

Although the Court’s decision threatens to move the country backward, the Biden-Harris Administration stated they would fight to preserve the hard-earned progress made to advance racial equity and civil rights and expand educational opportunities for all Americans.

President Biden is calling on colleges and universities, when selecting among qualified applicants, to give serious consideration to the adversities students have overcome, including: the financial means of a student or their family; where a student grew up and went to high school; and personal experiences of hardship or discrimination, including racial discrimination, that a student may have faced.

The Biden-Harris Administration believes in doing so, colleges and universities can fully value aspiring students who demonstrate resilience and determination in the face of deep challenges. However, is this enough to help make a difference? The United States has taken many steps backward in the past year. With relaxed gun laws, the overturn of Roe vs. Wade that restricted abortion rights, not to mention voting restrictions, inflation, etc., and now the banning of affirmative action. It all contributes to the downfall and negative impact of maintaining and creating more people to sustain in a lower socio-economic status. Not to mention the new Florida social studies curriculum on African American History for middle school students now includes a lesson on how “slaves developed skills” that could be used for “their personal benefit.” Enough is enough! Call slavery would it truly was, dehumanizing, to say the least!