Maintaining Diversity throughout Higher Education: Successful contentions utilized in defending Affirmative Action in the United States Court System
Within the past thirty years, Institutions of Higher Education housing Affirmative Action programs and policies have been subject to extreme scrutiny at the hands of the United States Court System. These institutions have found themselves defending not only the necessity but also the constitutionality of programs designed to bridge the ethnic gap in the Academy and remedy past discrimination. Courts across the nation have deliberated and decided the issues pertaining to Affirmative Action and no one verdict has been able to set a precedent for the issue at hand; however, certain arguments and contentions in favor of Affirmative Action are consistently considered compelling while others have been habitually overlooked. As the court battles continue, it is critical to the future of Affirmative Action that the contentions falling upon deaf ears in the court rooms be replaced with strengthened arguments such as that of diversity and its benefits to Higher Education. Although it's not evident that a set precedent exists on the issue of Affirmative Actions constitutionality, an analysis of the benchmark case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, and others that follow will exhibit trends in opinions of Justices that can be utilized to advance effective arguments in front of federal courts and ultimately the Supreme Court.
School:
Morehouse College
Department:
English
Research Advisor:
James Anderson
Department of Research Advisor:
Educational Policies Studies
Year of Publication:
2002