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Should colleges use race-
based affirmative action
policies?
You decide!
1.1
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. How, if at all, should competitive colleges try to address systemic
racism? What are the limits of their responsibilities?
2. Is affirmative action consistent with the 14th Amendment's Equal
Protections Clause?
3. To what extent are Asian-Americans unfairly harmed by
affirmative action policies?
4. Overall, do affirmative action programs end up helping minority
groups? Support your answer with evidence.
BACKGROUND:
Even though discrimination based on race is technically illegal in
the US, many people of color still face the effects of centuries of
systemic racism. Universities like Harvard have implemented
affirmative action programs to accept more Black, Hispanic, and
Native American students. Critics of this practice, such as the
plaintiffs of Students For Fair Admissions vs. Harvard, argue that
these practices unfairly discriminate against Asian Americans. A
federal appeals court recently ruled in favor of Harvard's policies,
but the decision may be appealed again and heard by the
Supreme Court.
1.4
NO: Colleges should not
practice affirmative action
1.3
Affirmative action is
actually discriminating
based on race, especially
against Asian Americans
2.6
After controlling for
grades, test scores,
family background,
and athletic status, a
study found that
Whites were three
times, Hispanics six
times, and Blacks
more than 15 times
as likely to be
accepted at a US
university as Asian
Americans
3.11
Asians at Harvard
performed stronger
on objective
measures, but their
presence in the
student body is
artificially low
3.12
Even Harvard found a
bias against Asian
American applicants
during an internal
investigation in 2013,
but had never made
the findings public or
acted on them
3.13
Black students get an
advantage of 310
points on the SAT
while Asian students
get a disadvantage of
140
3.14
The US should not promote
policies that discriminate
based on race
2.7
The 14th Amendment
states that everyone
should be treated
equally and prohibits
discrimination on the
basis of race
3.15
Affirmative action
actually hurts
minority students
2.8
Affirmative action contributes
to the so-called "mismatch
effect," where minority
students are artificially
elevated into higher levels of
failure
3.16
According to UCLA
School of Law professor
Richard Sander,
affirmative action brings
in students that are
more likely to achieve
poorly and eventually
drop out.
4.3
Black students who
start college
interested in pursuing
a doctorate and an
academic career are
twice as likely to be
derailed from this
path if they attend a
school where they are
mismatched.
4.4
In one analysis, half
of Black college
students and a third
of Hispanic students
ranked in the bottom
20% of their classes
4.5
Only 57% of Black
students finish
college in four years
while over 70% of
Hispanics, Asians, and
Whites finish in four
years
4.6
Yes: Colleges should
practice affirmative action
1.2
The US has a duty to
counterbalance historic
inequalities
2.1
Even though slavery
was abolished in
1865, de facto
segregation is still
present in education
3.1
The median wealth of
White families is 6.7x
greater than the
median wealth of
Black families
3.2
Racial minorities in
America have faced
unequal
representation and
discrimination
throughout history,
which has made it
hard for people of
color to rise above
the poverty line and
overcome the subpar
educational
opportunities they
receive in comparison
to their white
counterparts.
3.3
Affirmative action may be
helpful to alleviating
historic inequalities
2.2
Between 1976 and
2008, college
enrollment of Black
and American Indian/
Alaska Native
students more than
doubled, and the
enrollment of
Hispanic students
increased sixfold.
3.4
Today, without
affirmative action
programs, African
Americans would
make
up only 2% of
students in higher
education
3.5
Race-based affirmative
action promotes
diversity better than
income-based methods
2.3
Income-based
affirmative action
may do little to
produce racial
diversity in schools
3.6
A Harvard committee
found that race-
neutral admission
practices would lead
to less diverse
student bodies
3.7
We should promote
diversity in
universities
2.4
Prioritizing diversity
benefits students of
all races
3.8
Racially integrated
classrooms can
reduce students'
racial bias, improve
satisfaction and
intellectual self-
confidence, and
enhance leadership
skills
4.1
Affirmative action has
positive effects on the
educational outcomes
and experiences of
college students, as
well as on the
teaching of faculty
members, according
to the American
Association of
University Professors
4.2
Affirmative action
policies such as
Harvard's do not
unfairly harm Asian
Americans
2.5
Harvard's percentage
of Asian American
students has grown
from 17% to 21%
while Asian
Americans
represented only
around 6% of the US
population
3.9
Professor David Card,
a nationally
recognized
economics professor,
analyzed Harvard's
admissions database
and concluded there
was no discrimination
against Asian
Americans
3.10
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