The History of Affirmative Action in College Admissions by Jack Nuspl https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a Affirmative action and the use of it in college admissions has become an ever more debated topic in the media. Numerous cases and lawsuits have taken place over the years, however, Universities still find themselves in hot water. en-us 2021-11-05 20:40:44 UTC 2025-11-25 14:31:36 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f3eb.png What is Affirmative Action? nuspljr https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873494128 The topic that I am going in depth in is affirmative action and how it discriminates against marginalized communities. Affirmative action policies were put into place on college campuses in order to make the admission process more fair for all students. However, the downside to this is that students who come from traditionally more successful groupings will have a harder time getting into the same exact school.]]> 2021-11-07 23:20:01 UTC https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873494128 Recent Conflict nuspljr https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873496997 In recent years there has been a lot of talk in the news and media about the use of affirmative action policies and if they are fair. One main example of this is the Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College lawsuit filed by Asian-American students against Harvard in 2014. This lawsuit was only settled recently in 2019 where courts found that Harvard was not discriminating against students. A quote from Judge Allison D. Burroughs the case stated that “While the system is "not perfect", the judge ruled, it nonetheless passes constitutional muster”. This lawsuit brought up cases where Harvard did discriminate against students on the basis of racial related topics. A quote from Wikipedia states that “Harvard admissions officers consistently rated Asian-American applicants as a group lower than others on traits like positive personality, likability, courage, kindness and being widely respected”. The outcome of the case was that Harvard College did not violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religon, etc.. Following the decision of the first hearing, Asian-American support groups filed federal complaints to the university again on similar allegations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_Fair_Admissions_v._President_and_Fellows_of_Harvard_College]]> 2021-11-07 23:23:15 UTC https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873496997 Historical Context nuspljr https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873497589 Affirmative action has been a hard to tackle problem since its induction to school admissions in the 1960s following the civil rights movement. The phrase affirmative action came about in the late 60s when John F. Kennedy created the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. This encouraged hiring marginalized people as well as helping end racial discrimination in hiring. Since then other key supreme court cases have helped shape what is and isnt consitional. For example, in the case of University of California v. Bakke (1978), the court ruled that it was unconstituional to have racial quota systems in place. Since then other large cases such as Gratz and Grutter v. Bollinger, and Fisher v. University of Texas. Although there has been plenty of legal disputes over affirmative action, it still remains a problem in more selective universities today. An example of this controversy revolves around Harvard University in the year 2018. The problem was that Harvard was allegedly holding Asian students to a higher standard than students of other races and using an illegal racial quota system. The contrary argument to this is that these systems were put into place in order to help African-American and Latino students to offset years of racial discrimination in this country. This decision of this case was that the school did not violate any laws and was completely constitutional. However, there are more similar allegations that were filed soon after the end of this trial.

https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/history-affirmative-action-college/
https://time.com/5425147/harvard-affirmative-action-trial-asian-american-students/]]> 2021-11-07 23:23:37 UTC https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873497589 Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) nuspljr https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873497983 Another landmark case in affirmative action where the court ruled the University's point system's "predetermined point allocations" that awarded 20 points towards admission to underrepresented minorities "ensures that the diversity contributions of applicants cannot be individually assessed" and was therefore unconstitutional.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratz_v._Bollinger]]> 2021-11-07 23:24:05 UTC https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873497983 Important Laws and Regulations nuspljr https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873498904 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 
Prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, etc.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
Prohibits employment discrimination based on age 

Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Sections 501 and 505 
Prohibits employment discrimination against individuals with disabilities

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/affirmative_action
]]> 2021-11-07 23:25:07 UTC https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873498904 Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) nuspljr https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873499572 A landmark case concerning the use of affirmative action for college admissions in the United States. The court ruled that the student admissions process that favors "underrepresented minority groups" does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause as long as it takes into account other individual factors for every applicant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grutter_v._Bollinger]]> 2021-11-07 23:25:51 UTC https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873499572 Fisher v. University of Texas (2016) nuspljr https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873510886 A case that many thought would end affirmative action is Fisher v. University of Texas. By Texas law, the top ten percent of students from their graduating class get immediate admission to in-state universities. For the remaining spots, the university considers many factors, including race. 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 Amendment. The supreme court ruled that the University did not violate the equal protection clause and the case was dropped. 

https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-981]]> 2021-11-07 23:38:08 UTC https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873510886 How this relates to key terms nuspljr https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873512155 The main term that my topic is most connected to is the idea of identity and intersectionality. Identity and intersectionality are related to my topic because affirmative action has to do with using a persons identity or race against them. A persons intersectionality is made up defining factors that determine their privilege and how other people view them such as race, gender, etc.. These are the same principles that affirmative action policies use to accept or deny students applications. Using some ones identity or race to determine whether or not they should be accepted is unconstitutional and racist. ]]> 2021-11-07 23:39:19 UTC https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1873512155 DeFunis v. Odegaard (1974) nuspljr https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1889745796 DeFunis v. Odegaard was the very first case with issues involving affirmative action. Marco DeFunis was a white man who argued he was denied admission to the University of Washington Law School because the school had prioritized admitting minority students who were less qualified. He said that this violated the Fourteenth Amendment and was unconstitutional. Once the case got to the supreme court, DeFunis was already in his last year of law school and the courts called off the case. 

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/416/312]]> 2021-11-14 23:17:18 UTC https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1889745796 Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) nuspljr https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1889757694 The first ruling on a case related to affirmative action is Alan Bakke v. The University of California. The court ruled that the University violated the equal protection clause as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for the schools’ policy to reserve 16 out of 100 spots for qualified minority students. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regents_of_the_University_of_California_v._Bakke
]]> 2021-11-14 23:33:57 UTC https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1889757694 Works Cited nuspljr https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1889777088 “Affirmative Action.” Legal Information Institute, Legal Information Institute, https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/affirmative_action. 
“Fisher v. University of Texas.” Oyez, https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-981. 
“Gratz v. Bollinger.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 June 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratz_v._Bollinger. 
“Grutter v. Bollinger.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Aug. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grutter_v._Bollinger. 
“A History of Affirmative Action in College Admissions.” BestColleges.com, 27 July 2021, https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/history-affirmative-action-college/. 
“Marco Defunis Et Al., Petitioners, V. Charles Odegaard, President of the University of Washington.” Legal Information Institute, Legal Information Institute, https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/416/312. 
“Regents of the University of California v. Bakke.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Nov. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regents_of_the_University_of_California_v._Bakke. 
Reilly, Katie. “Asian-American Students' Lawsuit against Harvard Could End Affirmative Action.” Time, Time, 16 Oct. 2018, https://time.com/5425147/harvard-affirmative-action-trial-asian-american-students/. 
“Students for Fair Admissions V. President and Fellows of Harvard College.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Oct. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_Fair_Admissions_v._President_and_Fellows_of_Harvard_College. 
]]> 2021-11-14 23:55:59 UTC https://padlet.com/nuspljr/y6qyudu1mvghem1a/wish/1889777088