Affirmative action programs were implemented to level the playing field for applicants of particularly higher education institutions. While universities cannot fulfill racial quotas, admission counselors can consciously create a more diverse accepted pool. However, many elite colleges such as Harvard, University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, and University of Michigan – Ann Arbor are being accused of placing preference on applicants, specifically African Americans and Hispanics. High profile lawsuits against these universities have been and are currently taking place on the basis that they are rejecting Asian American applicants who are rightfully qualified. This could lead to the demise of affirmative action, causing further implications. If affirmative action goes away, this means that colleges could not put a preference on any applicant from any demographic, including legacies. Candidates with family who have graduated from Harvard are five times more likely to get accepted (Dynarski).
Elite universities rely on alumni donations, rejecting wealthy and generous alumnus children could drastically hurt fundraising. This is a reality colleges are likely going to face in the future with the projected political climate. Harvard accepts over half of their legacy applicants compared to 15% of their non-legacy candidates (Golden). Clearly these institutions place an emphasis on their alumni children, and whether that statistic is based on qualification or not is up to debate. Harvard has a special list for applicants from well-connected, affluent families who do not quite have the grades to make it on their own. They are waitlisted and then accepted so long as they defer for a year to “relax”. “ Of the nearly 60 students per year who Harvard Z-lists, 46.5 percent were legacies and 58.8 percent were on the dean’s interest list. Almost 70 percent were white; 14.3 percent were Asian; 4.4 percent were Hispanic, and 2 percent were black. Only 1.8 percent were the first generation in their families to go to college”(Golden). The university also gives significant preference to recruited athletes and children of faculty and staff, all groups given preferential treatment show to be disproportionately white. In 1990 a lawsuit found Harvard was accepting Asian Americans with significantly higher test scores and GPAs at much lower rates compared to white students. Affirmative action programs are supposed to be in place to ensure this does not happen, leads one to question the efficacy of said programs.
“take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin”, as President Kennedy stated in his first executive order using the term affirmative action (Affirmative). The pretense of affirmative action is to ensure diversity but by also mandating a standard at which all candidates should be upheld to. Any contractor or institution with over 50 employees and receiving over $50,000 annually from the government is required to submit an Affirmative Action Plan, AAP. These plans are to be submitted to the Office of Federal Compliance Programs, OFCCP, and should consist of the institutions plans to enforce affirmative action in their workplaces and promote diversity (Affirmative). The plans are supposed to hold organizations accountable, however their goals are not designed to be met. Rather, the goals are to be upheld with good faith, promising to work towards a more diverse workplace. There are many cases in which affirmative action has helped people by providing opportunities they would not necessarily get, such as getting accepted into a good school which leads them to great job ventures. There is no doubt that people are greatly benefited from affirmative action, however there are cases in which students or athletes have been accepted on the basis of affirmative action and fall through the cracks academically.
States such as California and Texas have abolished affirmative action, which has consequently dropped the minority population on college campuses. At UC Berkeley, admissions of minorities plummeted 61%, and at UCLA by 36%. In Texas after 1996 Hispanic enrollment in universities fell by 22% and African Americans by 46% (Affirmative). We can see the effects of what happens when we do not have actions in place to promote diversity, thus if we are dissatisfied with systems in place, it is time we re-evaluate and change said systems.
Sources:
Dynarski, Susan. “At Elite Colleges, Racial Diversity Requires Affirmative Action.” The New York Times, 28 Sept. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/09/28/business/at-elite-colleges-racial -diversity-requires-affirmative-action.html.
Golden, Daniel. “Debate Over Affirmative Action in College Admissions Could be Disastrous for Legacy Students.” Pacific Standard Magazine, 16 July 2018, psmag.com/education/ affirmative-action-in-college-admissions.
“Affirmative Action Programs: Everything You Need to Know.” UP Counsel , www.upcounsel.com/affirmative-action-programs. Accessed 6 Feb. 2019.
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