Issue Of The Week LIII: Should The U.S. Supreme Court Strike Affirmative Action Measures For Minorities To Have Equal Access to College And University Admissions?

I do not agree that "affirmative action measures are no longer needed due to minorities having fair and equal access to college and university admissions." I think that if this were true, there would not be two cases appearing in front of the Supreme Court, and just a few weeks ago, there was another blog about university and a Muslim student. This seems to indicate that all is not fair and equal in the world of academic admissions.

I wonder if colleges should stop asking what race the applicant is on the admission applications and if it would have any bearing on admission outcomes.

Higher educational institutions need to reconfigure their requirements and priorities. Instead of focusing a significant amount of attention on 'diversity profiling' at this point in time, they should generate a meritocracy-based criteria where the academic performance and ability of the student takes precedence over any other requirement. The end result could only lead to a higher standard of academic ranking/reputation which benefits both the institution and those who attend it.

I don't think Affirmative Action is relavent anymore. Everyone, who wants, earns it or can afford it, has access to college education. There are student loans, grants, etc. I agree with WEST 16. Sometimes it seems like AFFIRM ACT is reverse racism, sexism. I don't see Affirmative Action changing anything anymore.

I am not sure the right answer, but I do not think meritocracy-based systems are an answer that speaks to ALL children and upcoming possible college students in our country. First, we must ask ourselves questions regarding diversity and access to primary and secondary education.

The American Dream is not as easily accessible as we would like to believe. Those raised in poverty will most likely remain there in their lifetime. Yes, when students have fair access to proper and helpful K-12 education, a system of meritocracy might work, but when this is often not the case, I believe students deserve a chance at higher education whether or not their grades prove worthy. Life situations, challenges, and simply our system add to unequal rights in education.

While most privileged students have access to college education, I believe we need Affirmative Action and other organizations who speak for those without privilege.

As far as Affirmative Action goes, I feel I’m kind of torn. I would definitely have to say that minorities do not have fair and equal access to college and university admissions, but I do feel that things have changed from the past. I wouldn’t say that Affirmative Action should go away or that it ever will, but I think that there should be other components to allowing someone in school besides just their race. I do feel there are other components though in our current system. If a Black girl tries to go to school with a 1.5 GPA they should not be allowed in and if a White girl with the same GPA attempts to get in a university she shouldn’t get in. I just don’t feel that Affirmative Action will ever go away. Universities and colleges are always going to have to meet diversity quotas so minorities will always get in over some Whites. That’s just how it is I feel.

I will argue FOR Affirmative Action. A while ago I did a comparison between Sonia Sotomayor and Abigale Fisher for my WEST class…here it is.

The more I see and hear Sonia Sotomayor-I love her more. I see and hear intelligence, humility, groundedness, compassion, wisdom, balance and some real applicable life experience (I could go on)... and she is a recipient of Affirmative Action. Oh what we could learn from such a person–especially those who are entrenched in the war upon Affirmative Action. Sotomayor and Fisher are two women fighting for the same thing–equality not based on skin color. Sotomayor benefited from Affirmative Action but Fisher did not.

I see humility, wisdom and vision from Sotomayor that comes from life experience–a life experience of sacrifice, overcoming obstacles and navigating great challenges. This woman had almost every disadvantage one could think of-race, gender, socioeconomic status and a disability. This woman has realized that the opportunity she has been afforded was not a right-but a privilege and life changing. How’s that for NOT having an entitled attitude? She admits that doors were open for her, but she then went above and beyond what was expected and graduated summa cum laude, winning Princeton's coveted Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize and now sits on the Supreme Court.

I see shock, disbelief and petulance from Fisher that comes from limited life experience–a life of expectations that when these expectations were not realized decided to sue–based on discrimination of the color of her skin. How’s that for HAVING an entitled attitude? She was not part of the top 10%–otherwise there would be no issue. She had to compete on other merits-just like any other individual applying to UT falling outside the top 10% and thus other factors were considered. Leadership, volunteering, income level and yes-race…what a difference life becomes when just being white does not afford one the luxury of privilege and having things just go one’s way…

Why did this young woman believe she had sole rights to gain access to her preferred school of choice over others–regardless of GPA? Does an interviewer for employment look only at skilled qualifications or are there other factors that come into play? Fisher did have other opportunities and was accepted and graduated from Louisiana State University. There were other doors open for her. For a minority in general-would there have been even one open??? I fully support Affirmative Action–I would much prefer to produce a woman of Sotomayor’s caliber than that of Fisher’s, not taking anything away from Fisher’s accomplishments thus far, for we are products of our environments and not always aware.

Which one of these women truly understands discrimination based on skin color and which simply had socially constructed expectations not met? That is my basic argument for the support of Affirmative Action.

In a perfect world, everyone would have equal opportunities that begin with equal education. In a perfect world, the students coming out of those equal schools would have equal financial access to educations they are equally accepted into. In a perfect world, race would not exist. In a perfect world, gender would not matter. In a perfect world, merit would be the only basis for one's acceptance into the best schools and the best jobs.

But in the real world....affirmative action is still necessary!

I think that Affirmative Action has played a substantial role in helping minorities achieve both educational and professional goals since its creation in 1961 by John F. Kennedy. I am undecided on whether I think that race should determine admission to any institution of higher learning. Honestly I feel as though the college admissions process should be centered on meritocracy. I don't think that we are doing anyone any favors by admitting them to colleges when their performance does not match or exceed other more qualified individuals who are turned away. I don't necessary think that all minorities have fair and equal access to college and university admissions all across the United States but if anyone is truly intent on attending college they should be aware that the admissions process is extremely competitive and their performance should reflect that competitiveness.

As much as we would like to believe the society has changed over the years, and that discrimination against someone's race regarding acceptance into a university or a college no longer exists, there is always that possibility that someone may suffer from such discrimination. To an extent I strongly believe that one should only be granted admission into a school they desire only if they are qualified for it. It is not fair for someone with the exact same qualifications as someone else to be denied because they are white and the other person is a minority. Admission into a university should only be based on someone's capability to finish school by looking at their achievements and accomplishments from high school.
However, if we were to take the role of affirmative action in school admissions out completely, no one can be sure that the school accept students solely based on their academic achievements. The university websites usually have their average standards for who are strong candidates and who are not, but that does not guarantee anyone's acceptance. The decision is based the university , and even if one is a border line qualifier, just because of their race, chance still exists for them to be denied. So affirmative action does give advantages to those minorities who are not strongly favored candidates, but that also means someone who may have a tiny bit better may be rejected because they had to make room for the other student.
I think the only way one can strengthen their argument on why affirmative action should be removed is if all universities and colleges can present exact requirements for admissions. This is probably next to impossible because there may be other positive and desirable qualities in students that the university may want, even if they lack in other parts of the admission criteria. On the other hand, the universities and colleges may take out the portion on their application where they ask the student's race, but that is still imperfect because one may have an exotic name that is not common and the admission staff can kind of guess what their race may be.

This is such a difficult issue because affirmative can be both a blessing and biased. I do not think colleges should grant admission based on race, ever, no matter who is being favored. On the other side of things, there are a lot of minorities who do not have the opportunities to go to good schools in good neighborhoods that would promote a better and stronger application to Universities of their choice.

Either way, when someone is getting favored because of their race, I think it is racist and unfair to the losing person. But right now due the disparities we do see in privilege based on race, I think affirmative action is still necessary to grant those without the same opportunities the accessibility the rest of us get for free.

I feel very strongly about affirmative action. I believe it would be detrimental to eliminate this action. I believe there are many things the Supreme Court needs to change, but this is not one of them. The way most people are able to gain success and financial stability is through a college education. People who live in low socioeconomic areas, mostly minorities, are not given the opportunity at a higher level of education, if it were not for affirmative action. It is ridiculous to eliminate something that gives people a chance at success, a chance they would not otherwise have. I did not qualify for college grants because of my parent's incomee, but my parents did not pay for my education, so I was not able to afford college. It was not until I joined the military that I was given the chance to go to college because the military helped pay for my student loans. Not everyone has the opportunities I was given and I am absolutely for affirmative action.

I do not feel that admission should ever be determined by a person's race, but some people will never have the opportunity to go to college. I think that college admission should be based on essays, grades, gpa, class rank, extra curricular activities; Not be based on being Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, etc. I think giving out minority scholarships is a great thing because it does give a student a chance to afford school if that was a big issue. I feel that giving acceptance letters to a minority person BECAUSE they are a minority just gives into negative racism which we do not want in our country.

As a student I believe that no matter what race, sex, age, etc should affect college placement. With the current economic situation the need for a college degree is steadily increasing. The competition for college acceptance to get that degree is continuing to increase. The basis of grades and community service, police record etc should have the effect on acceptance. It doesn't matter if you are black, white, asian, catholic, baptist, gay, straight, lesbian, if you don't have the intelligence to be in college then you should not be given the opportunity simply because you meet the college need to make percentage minority rates equal.

Ieally, it would be great to say that minorities have equal access to college, jobs and other areas of society dominated by white people. but the facts are that minorities on average are less likely to attend college and earn equal pay to their white counterparts. Many minorities begin in less well funded schools, recieve less encouragement to reach higher and still often expected to achieve less. While other groups were segregated, enslaved pushed to internment camps and forced to live with one eye constantly open, white people have been gaining their wealth, had generations of college graduates and in short a better life. While, it is ideal to say that such histories no longer effect these people, i feel that in reality we still have a long way to go before our differences are no longer have any relevance in how much we can achieve.

I think the inclusion of race regarding college/university enrollment is necessary. Other areas of an individual's life are examined to determine whom will or won't be accepted, so why shouldn't an individual's primary status be included? Race is more influential on an individual's life than I would imagine most white people realize. This is because white people don't have to "consider" their race on a daily basis similar to the lives of minorities.

I think the problem lies with those whom are concerned about Caucasians receiving greater opportunities than minorities should there be racist individuals present in the selection process. In addition, some are worried that minorities will be given priority over equally qualified Caucasians in order to create a more diverse campus community.

With those problems in mind, I think the inclusion of race is necessary in order to create for a more informed decision during the selection process. I welcome the idea that a college may choose someone for a combination of intellectual ability, experience, and one's primary statuses. Perhaps I'm biased because I'm white and have never felt the "sting" of knowing that my race kept me from participating in something I desired.

I don't think that we're ready to take away affirmative action. I wish that all races were held on equal status, but I really don't believe that we can yet. Just the other day I saw an article that talked about Blacks and Hispanics being targeted more for weed than whites. Just because we have a half black half white President doesn't mean that racism is over, it's very much alive. Also, I think that growing up as a different race has different impacts on people than growing up white does, you go through more experiences if you grow up black, hispanic, or asian than you do growing up in the privileged white class.However, I don't think that someone with F's should be accepted just because a college needs to meet is "different race" score either. I think that if we did away with affirmative action, people who weren't white could not be accepted into jobs or colleges because of it.

I feel that there is still a need for Affirmative Action, but with that being said I also feel that there should be standards for admission to institutions of higher education. If a person cannot meet minimum standards then they should be turned away regardless of race. It would be nice to think that all races have equal access to institutions of higher education, but the reality is that they do not and it may be a long time before they do if it ever happens.

Minorities should have equal access to college and university admissions. So far, I have only heard about “white privilege”. People have been trying to get rid of “white privilege” because it causes racial inequality. However, giving minorities privilege is not equal to suppressing white privilege. It might cause another racial discrimination problem. Moreover, accepting that the minorities need to have better access to get into college for whatever reason is the same thing as assuming that the minorities are inferior students compared to the white students.

Challenging issues with no definitive right answer. School acceptance should be granted based on grades and ability as opposed to race without a doubt. Grades are an issue for the simple reason that once an individual is accepted they must be committed and able to do the work. That being said, if someone is at a disadvantage based on race or any other form of "ism" than the cycle of oppression continues. Is there middle ground? Racism is a reality and there will be no end anytime soon, history as well as present time shows this. There may be benefit put on universal admissions for all students across the board. Has there been enough focus on ensuring that the process in place reduces or eliminates risk of persons being chosen based primarily on race (minority or majority)? Affirmative action is necessary based on our reality and current climate but more work needs to be done to ensure that the pendulum is not swung in the opposite direction.

In my opinion if affirmative action was not needed than there wouldn't be such a big argument about it. There was another article on here that spoke about hate crimes at Purdue so obviously we are still having racial conflicts at colleges, and in the Purdue case claims of hate crimes were being ignored. I believe that without affirmative action or some other form of accountability, minority students will fall through the cracks, and will not be accepted into college in the same numbers. It is sad that this even has to be a discussion. On the flip side, it is also very discouraging for a lot of minority students when it is assumed that they received their acceptance based on their race alone. A lot of times the assumption is that a minority was accepted into college because of their race and not because of their ability and that they have earned the right to be there. That is also a problem that needs to be discussed.