Diversity and affirmative action

Diversity is the exploration of differences in a nurturing environment. The differences may be of different dimensions including political, race, and sexual, ethnic, or religious beliefs. Affirmative action is linked to intolerance in the United States because of intolerance. Affirmative action is a form of positive discrimination that tries to place discriminated groups, such as minority races and women, in the same footing with the dominant White race. Major sectors benefiting from affirmative action include education and employment sector. Such efforts place everyone regardless of his or her ethnic background on the same level. The efforts counter the effects of discrimination (Norton, 1987).

A major win for diversity and affirmative action in the United States is the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Bakke case. The case involves the admissions program of California medical school. The school set aside spaces for minority applicants. The Supreme Court found the action by the University of California unconstitutional but lawful (Regents v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265, 1978). The court found that education benefits from diversity, however, the use of race as a reason in the admission of students in colleges and universities must be well tailored to enable the university to achieve overall diversity. Effective affirmative action in the University of California has increased the eligibility rate of Hispanic students from 3 to 46%. This is possible because the university uses outreach programs, race sensitive admissions, and financial aid. Prior to these efforts, more than 70% of students in the university were White. The programs have enabled the population of Hispanic to almost double from 7% to the current 13% (Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, 1995).

Affirmative action is quickly losing support in California and many states. Those in favor of eliminating gender and races as factors for consideration in education enrolment and employment argue that these results in the unfair discrimination of White males. Others believe that affirmative action has served its purpose and todays society is color-blind. Therefore, race and gender are no longer obstacles in the modern society. Despite these oppositions, evidence reveals significant discrepancies in education and employment opportunities between Whites and minorities (Norton, 1987).

 References

Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education. (1995). "UC Regents Roll Back Affirmative Action," Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, 6(4).

Norton, Eleanor Holmes. (1987). "Step by Step, the Court Helps Affirmative Action," Affirmative Action after the Johnson Decision, by Douglass McDowell (Washington, DC: National Foundation for the Study of Employment Policy), pg. 157.

University of California Regents v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978). Retrieved from the FindLaw Web site: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=438&invol=265