{"id":10265,"date":"2017-10-21T06:22:58","date_gmt":"2017-10-21T06:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=10265"},"modified":"2017-10-27T06:26:52","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T06:26:52","slug":"colleges-need-affirmative-action-but-it-can-be-expanded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/colleges-need-affirmative-action-but-it-can-be-expanded\/","title":{"rendered":"Colleges need affirmative action \u2013 but it can be expanded"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eboni Nelson<\/a>, University of South Carolina<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In 2003, Justice Antonin Scalia<\/a> predicted that the Supreme Court\u2019s sanctioning of race-conscious affirmative action in higher education would spark future litigation for years to come. And right he was. From defeated claims of discrimination<\/a> against the University of Texas at Austin to an ongoing lawsuit<\/a> against Harvard, colleges continue to come under attack for considering race as a factor in admissions decisions.<\/p>\n

The recent report of the Department of Justice\u2019s possible investigation<\/a> of \u201cintentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions\u201d demonstrates that the assaults aren\u2019t likely to end anytime soon.<\/p>\n

As a professor of law and scholar<\/a> dedicated to ensuring equal educational opportunities for students of color, I believe now is an important time to earnestly consider other methods for diversifying student bodies. Race-neutral alternatives could effectively consider such factors as socioeconomic status and educational background, while supplementing more traditional affirmative action.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n Lawyer Bert Rein and his client, Abigail Fisher, failed in their discrimination case against UT Austin\u2019s affirmative action policies.<\/span>
\n AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Race-based\u2019 vs. \u2018race-conscious\u2019<\/h2>\n

When thinking about affirmative action, it\u2019s important to first define (and debunk) a few key terms, starting with \u201crace-based\u201d and \u201crace-conscious\u201d affirmative action.<\/p>\n

\u201cRace-based affirmative action\u201d is a misnomer often used to describe some college admissions policies. \u201cRace-based\u201d implies that an admissions decision is made solely because of or based upon an applicant\u2019s race or ethnicity<\/a>, which could not be farther from the truth. A university\u2019s decision to admit, deny or waitlist an applicant is based upon myriad criteria<\/a>, ranging from standardized test scores to state of residency. Race is just one of many admissions factors<\/a> a university may consider.<\/p>\n

This approach is more appropriately termed \u201crace-conscious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schools that employ race-conscious admissions policies do so in order to achieve the educational, social and democratic benefits<\/a> of a diverse student body.<\/p>\n

As the Supreme Court held in Gratz v. Bollinger<\/a>, race is not and cannot be the determining factor under a constitutional race-conscious plan. Therefore, when people claim that an African-American or Hispanic student was admitted because of race, they\u2019re often not only inaccurate but also dismissive of the student\u2019s other numerous attributes that played a role in the university\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

Race-neutral alternatives<\/h2>\n

Opponents of race-conscious affirmative action often assert that such policies are racist<\/a> or disproportionately benefit privileged minority students<\/a> from middle- and upper-class backgrounds.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n Justice Sandra Day O’Connor delivered the majority opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger, which asserted that schools must consider \u2018workable race-neutral alternatives.\u2019<\/span>
\n AP Photo\/Susan Walsh<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For its part, the Supreme Court is also skeptical of using racial classifications in governmental decision-making<\/a>. As a result, it has held that institutions of higher education must afford serious consideration to \u201cworkable race-neutral alternatives<\/a>\u201d before implementing a race-conscious policy.<\/p>\n

Importantly, the court\u2019s use of the term \u201crace-neutral\u201d does not mean \u201crace-blind.\u201d That is, universities are permitted to think about how alternative admissions criteria could help them achieve their diversity goals. Race-neutral criteria<\/a> could include socioeconomic background, high school or undergraduate institution, or class rank. In other words, these are factors that may contribute to a school\u2019s racial diversity, but applicants themselves are not considered based on race.<\/p>\n

In some cases, it\u2019s proven difficult<\/a> for race-neutral admissions policies to achieve the same levels of racial diversity as those achieved through direct consideration of race. However, such measures have been useful<\/a> in helping to diversify student bodies when used in conjunction with or in lieu of race-conscious affirmative action.<\/p>\n

The viability of race-neutral alternatives<\/h2>\n

When coupled with the stark racial disparities<\/a> that continue to plague some professions, the uncertain future of race-conscious affirmative action calls for a renewed focus on alternatives that look beyond race alone.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n TV isn\u2019t the only place where the legal profession remains one of the whitest.<\/span>
\n USA Network<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My co-researchers, Dr. Ronald Pitner<\/a> and Professor Carla D. Pratt<\/a>, and I recently took a look at one particular aspect of higher education diversity: law school admissions.<\/p>\n

Law schools play a unique role in training our country\u2019s next generation of leaders<\/a>. It is, in fact, vital to the future of our democracy<\/a> that we continue to provide students from historically underrepresented racial groups with access to legal education. And yet, the legal profession was recently determined to be \u201cone of the least racially diverse professions in the nation<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

To help law schools improve their diversity, we examined the relationship between race and race-neutral identity factors in law school admissions. The project, which was funded in part by a grant from AccessLex Institute<\/a>, surveyed over a thousand first-year law students at schools throughout the country and asked about various aspects of their identity, such as socioeconomic status and educational background.<\/p>\n

Our findings indicated that African-American and Hispanic students were significantly more likely<\/a> than both white and Asian\/Pacific Islander students to have qualified for free or reduced lunch programs in elementary or secondary school, had a parent or guardian who received public assistance when the student was a dependent minor, and received a Pell Grant during their undergraduate studies \u2013 all of which are race-neutral factors that schools could consider in admissions decisions.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n Race-neutral affirmative action can help identify first-generation students and students from low-income families.<\/span>
\n AP Photo\/Pat Sullivan<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How admissions could change<\/h2>\n

Based on the sample of participants in our study, it\u2019s clear that privilege did not catapult all students of color to law school. Many of them had to overcome the structural inequalities of poverty, race and public education to embark on a legal career. Expanding opportunities for these and other minority students will benefit not only legal education and the legal profession, but also society more broadly.<\/p>\n

Race-neutral admissions policies could help identify and create opportunities for these students.<\/p>\n

To be clear, I do not advocate for the wholesale substitution of traditional race-conscious admissions measures with the factors we studied. Race-conscious policies continue to be the most effective<\/a> means by which to create diverse student bodies.<\/p>\n

However, we encourage law schools and other institutions of higher education to utilize these and other race-neutral admissions factors as a means of complying with the Supreme Court\u2019s affirmative action mandates and testing the viability of policies that take such factors into account.<\/p>\n

\"TheDoing so will help ensure that traditionally underrepresented students of color will continue to have access to colleges and universities that serve as gateways to career, financial and life opportunities.<\/p>\n

Eboni Nelson<\/a>, Professor of Law, University of South Carolina<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eboni Nelson, University of South Carolina In 2003, Justice Antonin Scalia predicted that the Supreme Court\u2019s sanctioning of race-conscious affirmative action in higher education would spark future litigation for years to come. And right he was. From defeated claims of discrimination against the University of Texas at Austin to an ongoing lawsuit against Harvard, colleges […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":10266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[292],"tags":[3359,2617,1739,3362,3361,2530,3360,2990,1812],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10265"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10265"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10267,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10265\/revisions\/10267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}