The debate on race relations in the United States has been a topic for hundreds of years and it has still not come to a close. From Slavery and Segregation to the Black Lives Matter Movement. Discrimination continues to tarnish society. On college campuses minorities such as African- American, Hispanic, and Asian have been sorely underrepresented;
In 1976 84.3% of the student body at both two and four high education institutions were caucasian. Leaving only 9.6% African-American, 3.6 Hispanic, 1.8 Asian/Pacific Islander and 0.7% American Indian/Alaska Native. Now in 2006, 67.4% students are caucasian, 13.3% African American, 11.4% Hispanic, 6.8% Asian/Pacific Islander, 1.1% American Indian/Alaska Native.” (Batten 1) >INSERT GRAPH<
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In reaction to the case of Hopwood V. Texas where all race-based admission policy were outlawed the state of Texas implemented The Top Ten Percent Rule, a “color-blind” option that would keep the diversity of the campuses. After the plan was implemented; “The levels of minority applicants to UT in 1997, for example, fell by approximately 10% compared to 1996. Understandably, enrollment suffered as well, with Hispanic freshmen enrollment falling from 14.7% in 1995 to 12.6% in 1997 and Black enrollment falling from 4.9% to 2.7% in the same time period. At the College Station campus of A&M, the effects were just as drastic, with Hispanic enrollment down to 9.7% from 14.7% and Black enrollment under 3% from 4.7%.” (Webster 4) Simply, The Ten Percent rule did not increase the number of minorities at The University of Texas …show more content…
The challengers are partily correct because; “Many of the students graduating in the top 10 percent of the state's poorer high schools will prove unready for U.T.” (Forbath and Torres 2) but this problem may not be at the hands of the minorities it is affecting. Texas is counting on its unofficial segregations, with cities and school largely one race. A large amount of the African-American students that the Ten Percent rule accepts are the ones who attend lower-income schools. At these lower income schools they may not be prepared for the rigorous schooling of University of Austin. Subsequently; “...The 10 percent plan won't reach many well-prepared middle-class African-American students--at least those who go to well-funded and racially integrated high schools, where they may not graduate in the class's top 10 percent but still may be equipped for U.T. Austin” (Forbath and Torres 1). The University of Texas Ten Percent rule is a quasi diversity warranty that fails to include all members of the minorities. The university takes advantage of the segregation that already exist in the state to meet its diversity quota. Despite their efforts most of the minority student do not even come from
In 1973 a thirty-three year-old Caucasian male named Allan Bakke applied to and was denied admission to the University of California Medical School at Davis. In 1974 he filed another application and was once again rejected, even though his test scores were considerably higher than various minorities that were admitted under a special program. This special program specified that 16 out of 100 possible spaces for the students in the medical program were set aside solely for minorities, while the other 84 slots were for anyone who qualified, including minorities. What happened to Bakke is known as reverse discrimination. Bakke felt his rejections to be violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment, so he took the University of California Regents to the Superior Court of California. It was ruled that "the admissions program violated his rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment"1 The clause reads as follows:"...No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor without due process of the law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."2 The court ruled that race could not be a factor in admissions. However, they did not force the admittance of Bakke because the court could not know if he would have been admitted if the special admissions program for minorities did not exist.
Discrimination is still a chronic global issue, and drastic inequalities still exist at the present time. Thus, the Affirmative Action Law is an important tool to many minorities most especially to women, and people of color, for the reason that this program provides an equality on educational, and professional opportunities for every qualified individual living in the United States. Without this program, a higher education would have been impossible for a “minority students” to attain. Additionally, without the Affirmative Action, a fair opportunity to have a higher-level career...
Race as a factor in inequity. Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995) posit that race continues to be a significant factor in determining inequity in the United States. Race matters in society. If we look at high school drop out, suspension, and incarceration rates of men of color in America we see a disproportionate amount of men of color marginalized and profiled by society. This is further compounded by the perception that male faculty of color cannot be educators or at least are not often conceptually visualized in that capacity (Bryan and Browder, 2013).
Affirmative action, the act of giving preference to an individual for hiring or academic admission based on the race and/or gender of the individual has remained a controversial issue since its inception decades ago. Realizing its past mistake of discriminating against African Americans, women, and other minority groups; the state has legalized and demanded institutions to practice what many has now consider as reverse discrimination. “Victims” of reverse discrimination in college admissions have commonly complained that they were unfairly rejected admission due to their race. They claimed that because colleges wanted to promote diversity, the colleges will often prefer to accept applicants of another race who had significantly lower test scores and merit than the “victims”. In “Discrimination and Disidentification: The Fair-Start Defense of Affirmative Action”, Kenneth Himma responded to these criticisms by proposing to limit affirmative action to actions that negate unfair competitive advantages of white males established by institutions (Himma 277 L. Col.). Himma’s views were quickly challenged by his peers as Lisa Newton stated in “A Fair Defense of a False Start: A Reply to Kenneth Himma” that among other rationales, the Fair-Start Defense based on race and gender is a faulty justification for affirmative action (Newton 146 L. Col.). This paper will also argue that the Fair-Start Defense based on race and gender is a faulty justification for affirmative action because it cannot be fairly applied in the United States of America today. However, affirmative action should still be allowed and reserved for individuals whom the state unfairly discriminates today.
Recently the merits of a race based admission policy to colleges and universities have come under scrutiny by the American public. Take into account the position of black conservatives, who feel that affirmative action merely perpetuates a system of preference in reverse and does nothing to fix the problems African Americans face in lower educational programs. When looking at the arguments of the Black conservatives and comparing them to the view points of the opposition, a certain conclusion may be reached.
In 2001 statistics reported by the United States Department of Education indicated that during 1997-1998 African American students received 8.3% of bachelor’s degrees awarded. Concurrently, Hispanic students as well as Asian or Pacific Islander students received 6.0%, while American Indian/Alaskan Native students only accounted for .7%. Although statistics from agencies who report differ, clearly on a national level, minority students
Racial discrimination is a pertinent issue in the United States. Although race relations may seem to have improved over the decades in actuality, it has evolved into a subtler form and now lurks in institutions. Sixty years ago racial discrimination was more overt, but now it has adapted to be more covert. Some argue that these events are isolated and that racism is a thing of the past (Mullainathan). Racial discrimination is negatively affecting the United States by creating a permanent underclass of citizens through institutional racism in business and politics, and creating a cancerous society by rewriting the racist history of America. Funding research into racial discrimination will help society clearly see the negative effects that racism
In the Fisher V. Texas (2016) Supreme Court Case, most of the above cases were used as a precedent to take the final decision in this particular case. According to Oyez.org, the Fisher V. Texas (2016) case started when Abigail Fisher applied to the University of Texas at Austin in 2008 and was denied admission. Fisher did not qualify for the texas top ten percent plan, which I explained above, so she was not guaranteed admission, and she had to compete for the remaining spots. The university used race as one factor in the holistic review, which was purposely to ensure diversity in the student body. According to Oyez.org, “Fisher sued the University and argued that the use of race as a consideration in the admissions process violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
“There is exactly one sentence about why schools should want to discriminate… It reads, ‘When the state’s most elite universities are less diverse, [a school official] said, it doesn’t provide our students with a level of diversity they need in order to learn about other cultures and other communities’…And that’s supposed to outweigh all these costs of discrimination; It is personally unfair, passes over better qualified students, and sets a disturbing legal, political, and moral precedent in allowing racial discrimination.”
Today there is considerable disagreement in the country over Affirmative Action with the American people. MSNBC reported a record low in support for Affirmative Action with 45% in support and 45% opposing (Muller, 2013). The affirmative action programs have afforded all genders and races, exempting white males, a sense of optimism and an avenue to get the opportunities they normally would not be eligible for. This advantage includes admission in colleges or hiring preferences with public and private jobs; although Affirmative Action has never required quotas the government has initiated a benefits program for the schools and companies that elect to be diversified. The advantages that are received by the minorities’ only take into account skin color, gender, disability, etc., are what is recognized as discriminatory factors. What is viewed as racism to the majority is that there ar...
The discrimination against Caucasian and Asian American students a long with the toleration of lower quality work produced by African American students and other minority students is an example of the problems caused by Affirmative Action. Although affirmative action intends to do good, lowering the standards by which certain racial groups are admitted to college is not the way to solve the problem of diversity in America's universities. The condition of America's public schools is directly responsible for the poor academic achievement of minority children. Instead of addressing educational discrepancies caused by poverty and discrimination, we are merely covering them up and pretending they do not exist, and allowing ourselves to avoid what it takes to make a d... ... middle of paper ... ...
In the United States, racial discrimination has a lengthy history, dating back to the biblical period. Racial discrimination is a term used to characterize disruptive or discriminatory behaviors afflicted on a person because of his or her ethnic background. In other words, every t...
There are many types of discrimination in the America such as racial, religious, age, disability, and sexual. As college students, discrimination will play a major role in minorities lives as they look for employment or whom they are employed with. Discrimination and the opportunities for promotion are still common even though companies create a safe place to prevent racial discrimination. Racial discrimination is one of the world’s major issues today. Many are not aware on how much it still exists everywhere. A person cannot be born racist and discriminative but only learn to become one as they grow from child to an adult.
I have not witness racism in person, but I have witnessed it on videos posted on social networking sites. One video I remember watching shows a white man in Walmart who tells a Mexican woman that all the foreigners are taking all the jobs, and that they are living off of good working white people. He also says he pays his taxes. The woman looks calm and does not want to argue with the man. She tells him that she does not want to hear him anymore. After watching this video, I had a negative reaction towards the white man. He is an ignorant and close minded man. He fails to see that there are many foreigners out there who are working very hard and paying their taxes.
As stated before, racism has been a major contentious issue in the United States of America. Before the abolition of slavery in the country in the mid 20th century, racism was socially and even legally sanctioned in the country. The rights that were denied to those affected by racism such as African Americans, Native Americans, Latin Americans, and Asian Americans, among others, were enjoyed...