III.
UC REGENTS v. BAKKE
The court case of the Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke22 fueled the ongoing conversation about the use of affirmative action within college admissions cycles. This case began when a thirty-five-year-old white man by the name of Allan Bakke brought up his rejections from the medical school at the University of California, Davis. Given that his test scores were considered to be above the average admitted, his application was denied which in turn made him question the racial quota of the admissions system at the University of California, Davis. Bakke had taken his rejections to the Supreme Court as he filed and sued the university for using racial quotas. His main argument hinged on the university's practice of reserving approximately 16 seats for minority students.23 These 16 seats for minorities out of 100 for the University of California, Davis School of Medicine were viewed as a violation by the Supreme Court as it did violate the laws that were heavily applied to this case being the United States Constitution Amendment XIV, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This led to the court ruling that the university was in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. When describing the context of this case, we see that the University of California, Davis had instilled an Affirmative Action Program24 prior to Bakke’s admission cycles. Allan Bakke had applied for the UC Davis School of Medicine during the admission cycles of 1973 and 1974, ultimately getting rejected in both cycles. It is important to emphasize the fact that the University of California, Davis had an explicit compliance to affirmative action.25 The Executive Vice Chancellor had released this document, and this affirmative action program specifically catered to employment opportunities for minorities and females, similar to how 22
Oyez, “Regents of the University of California v. Bakke”, https://www.oyez.org/cases/1979/76-811 (last visited March 12, 2022). 23 Supreme Court of the United States, “Regents of the University of California v. Bakke”, (1978), https://aishouzuo.org/en/Regents_of_the_University_of_California_v._Bakke4622422624 24 University of California, Davis, “Affirmative Action Program for Minorities and Females”, (December 31, 2017 - December 30, 2018), https://compliance.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk5096/files/inlinefiles/UCD%20AAP%20Women%20Minorities%20FINAL%204.18.18_2.pdf 25 University of California, Davis, “Compliance and Policy; Affirmative Action”, (November 30, 2021), https://compliance.ucdavis.edu/affirmative-action
178
