Controversies in Affirmative Action [3 volumes]

1117 Pages·2014·3.72 MB·English

by  James A. Beckman

Controversies in Affirmative Action
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Controversies in Affi rmative Action
Volume 1: Historical Dimensions
James A. Beckman, Editor
Copyright 2014 by James A. Beckman
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a
review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Controversies in affi rmative action / James A. Beckman, editor.
volumes ; cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4408-0082-5 (hardcopy : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-1-4408-0083-2 (ebook) 1. Affi rmative action programs—Law
and legislation—United States. 2. Affi rmative action programs—United
States. I. Beckman, James A., e ditor of compilation.
KF4755.5.C67 2014
344.7301'133—dc23 2013050405
ISBN: 978-1-4408-0082-5
EISBN: 978-1-4408-0083-2
18 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5
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Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv
Chronology of Major Events Impacting Affirmative Action xxxv
Volume 1. Historical Dimensions
Chapter One: The Supreme Court, Civil Rights, and
Affirmative Action: An Historical Perspective 1
Gregory B. Padgett
Chapter Two: Modern Affirmative Action Takes Shape:
President Lyndon Johnson, Howard
University, and Executive Order 11246 17
F. Erik Brooks
Chapter Three: A Forgotten Story of Affirmative Action
and an Unlikely Ally: President Nixon, the
Philadelphia Plan, and the Evolution of
Modern Affirmative Action 37
Tom Lansford
Chapter Four: A Reader’s Overview of Affirmative Action,
Constitutional Law, and the Political Process 55
William A. Schroeder
vi Contents
Chapter Five: The Final Arbiter: Supreme Court
Jurisprudence and the Trend toward
Conservatism in Affirmative Action in America 113
David E. Fitzkee
Chapter Six: The Biggest Threat to Affirmative Action in Its
Formative Stage: President Ronald Reagan and
His Attack on Affirmative Action in America 143
Maya Beasley
Chapter Seven: Closing the Gap: Affirmative Action in Higher
Education, the Utilization of the Diversity
Rationale, and Select Examples of Legal
Challenges between 1995 and 2002 159
Adalberto Aguirre Jr. and Rubén O. Martinez
Chapter Eight: Hurricane Hopwood: The Hopwood v. Texas
Revolution and the Chaotic and Inconsistent
Application of Affirmative Action in Higher
Education, 1996–2003 179
Christopher “Chad” Cronon
Chapter Nine: Supreme Court Guidance on Affirmative
Action from 2003 through 2013: An Analysis
of the Implications Arising from Gratz v.
Bollinger (2003), Grutter v. Bollinger (2003),
Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle
School District No. 1 (2007), and Fisher v.
University of Texas at Austin (2013) 201
Leslie Y. Garfield
Chapter Ten: The Role of the Executive Branch and Views
of Various Presidents on Affirmative Action
from Roosevelt to Obama 225
Robert H. Wood
About the Editor and Contributors 253
Index 259
Preface
It has been 11 years since the landmark Supreme Court decision in Grut-
ter v. Bollinger in 2003, wherein the Supreme Court in part intimated that
race-based affirmative action might not be necessary or needed in 25 years
(i.e., 2028). Of much less importance and significance, but nevertheless
germane to the motivation behind this project, it has also been 10 years
since the release of Affirmative Action: An Encyclopedia1 in 2004. Given that
the Supreme Court has ruled in two major cases since that time (Fisher v.
University of Texas in June 2013 and Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirma-
tive Action by Any Means Necessary in April 2014) and that only a decade
and a half remain on the Court’s 25-year countdown, an update to current
status and scholarship relating to affirmative action was much desired and
is arguably needed. Since that time, Americans have been witness to some
unparalleled signs of improvement in terms of opportunity, with a myriad
of minorities breaking through the “glass ceiling” into the upper echelon of
politics. These pathfinders included the election (and reelection) of Presi-
dent Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States, which
some have claimed would usher in a “post-racial” era in America. There
have also been successive black secretaries of state (Colin Powell and Con-
doleezza Rice), multiple female secretaries of state (Condoleezza Rice,
Hillary Clinton), the first black attorney general of the United States (Eric
Holder), the first Hispanic supreme court justice (Sonia Sotomayor), and a
host of other impressive political accomplishments.2 Yet, as pointed out by
numerous chapters in this work, minorities still face serious and persistent
obstacles and challenges in modern society. Minorities (particularly black
Americans) are still notoriously underrepresented on college and university
campuses across the country. A June 2013 report issued by the Lumina Foun-
dation reported that while 59.1 percent of Asian adults and 43.3 percent
of white adults have a college diploma, only 27.1 percent of black adults
and 19.3 percent of Hispanic adults have a college diploma.3 The disparity
viii Preface
between white and black household incomes also continues to widen. Fur-
ther, incarceration rates in the United States are heavily concentrated by
race and ethnicity, and a disproportionate number of black Americans are
incarcerated in America. For instance, a February 2008 report by the Pew
Center reported that 1 out of every 9 black males between the ages of 20
and 34 are behind bars, and 1 out of every 15 black individuals 18 or older
are incarcerated, compared with 1 out of 36 Hispanic males over the age of
18, and compared with 1 out of every 106 white males above the age of 18.4
Yet, conversely, the number of individuals believing that racial discrimina-
tion is the biggest or primary impediment to black opportunity and equality
has fallen sharply, from 37 percent believing that racial discrimination still
serves as the chief obstacle to equality in 1995, down to 23 percent by 2012.5
Additionally, the Supreme Court that approved of the continued use of affir-
mative action in higher education (and that diversity was a compelling gov-
ernmental interest worthy of pursuit) has changed drastically in terms of its
composition. More specifically, as of 2013, four of the nine justices (44% of
Court) have left the Court since 2003, including the author of the Grutter
opinion (Sandra Day O’Connor), the author of the Gratz opinion (William
Rehnquist), and three of the five justices who approved of affirmative action
in Grutter (O’Connor, David Souter, and John Paul Stevens). Further, despite
the implicit representations of Supreme Court Justice O’Connor in 2003 in
Grutter that affirmative action would no longer be needed (or at least permit-
ted) by 2028, Americans remain hopelessly divided as to the continued need
and legality of affirmative action in 21st-century America. If the end point of
affirmative action (as a matter of federal constitutional law) is indeed 2028,
then only 15 years remain. Additionally, a number of states (eight states by
the end of 2013) have banned affirmative action as a matter of state law,
including several very populated states such as California, Michigan, and
Florida. In fact, 25 percent of the high school age population in 2013 lived
in one of these eight states. Unless the Supreme Court declares such state
law bans to be unconstitutional, it is likely that more and more states will fall
subject to these state law bans in future years. Thus, the future for affirmative
action in the next 15 years is not at all certain.
Thus, the purpose of this book is to build on where Affirmative Action:
An Encyclopedia left off in 2004, and to provide an analysis of the continued
practice of affirmative action in America, through the latest Supreme Court
pronouncement on the practice in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin
(decided in June 2013). Broadly speaking, the goal of this work is to provide
readers with the current cross-discipline perspective on the role of affirma-
tive action in society, and its prognosis for the next decade in America. The
reader can explore the philosophical and sociological theories involving
affirmative action, the multiple federal laws and cases involving the legality
Preface ix
of affirmative action, how affirmative action has been implemented over
time (correctly or incorrectly, according to the Supreme Court), and its less
than rosy prognosis. Throughout the course of the book, the reader can fol-
low the twists and turns of affirmative action throughout the decades, the
host of major and minor issues, subplots, and the various knotty divisive
parts. While the debate on affirmative action has resulted in a byzantine
maze of scholarly articles and books, reports, studies, popular writings,
judicial cases, and executive orders, among other diffuse sources, the goal
of the editor of this book is to lay out the substance, fundamentals, context,
and history of affirmative action in a logical and structured format.
A few words are in order regarding the structure of this book. First, each
chapter is authored by a different scholar and an expert in his or her area. The
authors come from a variety of different academic disciplines, including law,
political science, history, sociology, women’s studies, African American stud-
ies, and philosophy. Contributing authors were drawn from many leading
institutions of higher learning throughout the United States, which include
Eckerd College, Western Illinois University, University of Southern Missis-
sippi, University of California, University of Connecticut, Southern Illinois
University, United States Air Force Academy, Pace University, University of
Michigan, The Ohio State University, Lenoir-Ryne University, Middle Geor-
gia State College, Quinnipiac University, University of Arkansas, George-
town University, University of Miami, Texas Southern University, Widener
University, Valparaiso University, University of Tampa, University of Central
Florida, Azusa Pacific University, Bryant University, Mercer University, Ship-
pensburg University, and the University of Louisville. Contributing authors
(like composition of the population of the United States itself ) represent a
mosaic of different races and ethnicities; this diversity among the authors
lends itself in part to a diversity of viewpoints on the efficacy and legitimacy
of the contentious practice of affirmative action. The authors contributing
to this work are also equally represented by gender (18 authors are male; 18
authors are female). Brief biographies available on each of the contributing
authors may be found in the “About the Editor and Contributors” section at
the end of each corresponding volume where the essay appears.
The book is divided up into three distinct parts. Volume 1 provides the
historical context and framework for the creation and evolution and cur-
rent status of affirmative action today, with particular emphasis on tracing
the history of affirmative action over the course of the last four decades.
Within Volume 1, the following topics are discussed: the broad history and
context for affirmative action from the close of the American Civil War
through the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s (Chap ter 1);
the genesis of modern affirmative action notions through President John-
son’s famous 1965 Howard University speech and Johnson’s Executive