Academic Journal
A PLEA FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION.
| Title: | A PLEA FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Crusto, Mitchell F.1,2 |
| Source: | Harvard Law Review. Jan2023, Vol. 136 Issue 3, p205-225. 21p. |
| Abstract: | Affirmative action1 in the form of race-conscious admissions is being legally challenged by a conservative activist organization.2 During the Supreme Court’s 2022 October Term, the Court heard constitutional arguments against the use of race in admissions programs at two prestigious universities: one private, Harvard University, and one public, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.3 With these cases coming on the heels of the Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 4 where the Court overturned years of precedent of Roe v. Wade, 5 to hold that abortion is not a constitutional right, many observers have predicted that the Court will decide to ban race-conscious admissions.6 In this Essay, I, a Black, first-generation college graduate from a lowincome, single-parent household in the formerly racially segregated Deep South, reflect on my personal experiences as an “affirmative action beneficiary” (AAB), that is, a minority-background student who obtained an education at a formerly white-only, elite college or professional school. Based on my personal experience, I plea for a continued commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion through the use of race-conscious admissions policies in higher education and professional schools. Caveat: Recognizing that the use of race in university admissions is currently highly regulated by various Supreme Court decisions and arguing that race-conscious admissions should be a remedy for historic, chronic discrimination against Black people, I posit that the Court should uphold its precedents and not ban the use of race-conscious admissions practices. To the Court’s conservative Justices, I say that race-conscious admissions practices continue to serve the diversity rationale of the Court’s existing jurisprudence.7 To the broader audience of people of goodwill, I argue that enrolling Black students in formerly white-only, elite colleges and professional schools should not merely serve white interests, that Black students are legally and morally entitled to choose where they wish to be educated, that Black students are entitled to admission because they are academically qualified, that society has a debt owed to Black people to redress historical racial inequality,8 and that society must promote the social and economic mobility that Black people are justly and equally due as Americans.9 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Subject Terms: | *Diversity & inclusion policies, University & college admission, Civil rights, Segregation in education |
| Company/Entity: | Harvard University |
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| ISSN: | 0017811X |
| Database: | Business Source Complete |
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