The racial diversification of America's higher education system has been at the forefront of legal argument for the last seventy-five years. Ground-breaking decisions birthed the inclusion of affirmative action policies in higher education after the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In recent years, both the utility and constitutionality…

Summarizes the historical evolution of both the legal and moral arguments surrounding affirmative action in higher education. Discusses black higher education institutions and black scholars, desegregation and the Civil Rights Movement, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, admissions quotas, and the connection between law and educational policy. (MKA)

This legal document presents the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the affirmative action case brought against the University of Michigan's Law School. On June 23, 2003, the Court held in Grutter v. Bollinger et al. that diversity is a compelling interest in higher education and that race is one of a number of factors that can be taken into…

An explanation of the Bakke case, traditional admissions procedures, current trends and descriptions of six highly selective current programs and their admissions criteria are presented. In the Bakke case, the Supreme Court held that universities may not set quotas, i.e., reserve fixed numbers of places for blacks or members of other minority…

Amidst much controversy, the United States Department of Justice has filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court on behalf of the special minority admissions program at the University of California Medical School at Davis. This fact sheet is intended to show why Asian and Pacific Americans and those friendly toward Asians should pay careful…

Constitutional issues addressed in the Supreme Court's decision are reviewed. The opinions rendered by Justice Powell are viewed as reflections of the weakness of recent equal protection theory, and as signs of future doctrine. (GC)

The relationship between the history of racism and the denial of equal participation for Blacks today is discussed. The implications of the Bakke decision for the constitutionality of race-conscious admissions criteria are examined. It is shown that the government is constitutionally both permitted and required to take affirmative action. (MC)

Affirmative action and reverse discrimination are discussed. Facts that were omitted from the court record on the Bakke case are examined. The need for encouraging minority students and women to continue to press for school admission and for lawyers to continue to press affirmative action suits is stressed. (MC)

The Bakke case is viewed as simply another reflection of elitist criteria which limit the success of minority groups in our society. The arguments brought forth by Bakke's lawyers are shown to support this position. (GC)

The theory of culturally biased test scores is discussed, in terms of both the Bakke case and the theory's broader societal implications. Literature addressing the problem of test bias is reviewed. Remedies for predictive invalidity are proposed. The importance of thorough documentation in court litigation concerning this issue is stressed.…

The Bakke case is the most recent of many cases in which the Supreme Court has assessed the impact of the Brown decision that racial discrimination in education is unconstitutional. The Bakke decision has established that race is a factor which may constitutionally be considered in university admissions under certain circumstances. (Author/MC)