An Opinion
Shirley J. Wilcher
Executive Director, AAAA
June 17, 2013
The debate surrounding the Fisher v. University of Texas affirmative action case has unleashed
a cacophony of voices urging colleges and universities to replace race as a
factor in college admissions with class or socio-economic status (SES). The latest opinion writer to join the call
for “class vs. race” is Justin Pope (“Affirmative action ruling contest: race
vs. class,” AP, June 16, 2013, published in the Boston Globe). Pope writes, “As
a barrier to opportunity, class is getting more attention, while race is
fading.” He also notes that the Supreme
Court’s emphasis has changed or will change in Fisher and that on college campuses students are more vocal about
class divisions than they are about race.
Whether the “conversation has shifted” in the media or on college
campuses is, frankly, irrelevant. The
reality is that race continues to be a barrier to equal opportunity in
education as well as in employment and contracting. As Justice Blackmun wrote in the Bakke decision (1978), “In order to get beyond
racism we must first take account of race.
There is no other way.” The
merits of taking race into account in university admissions should never be determined
by whether this policy is the “flavor of the month.” Moreover, the palpable backlash against diversity
programs does not suggest their lack of importance. If that were the case, the Supreme Court
would never have handed down the Brown v.
Board of Education decision in 1954.
Popularity has little to do with justice and equality. The “Tyranny of the Majority” must always be viewed
with caution when one considers the constitutionality or morality of a law or
policy. California’s Proposition 209 and
Michigan’s Proposal 2, both of which outlawed taking race into account in
university admissions, inter alia,
are the embodiment of such tyranny by those who, for fear of losing a presumed advantage
in college admissions have severely limited the educational opportunities of an
ever growing population of minorities. What the majority of voters failed to understand
was that diversity programs benefit everyone. Equal opportunity is not a Zero-Sum game.
The mantra of “Class vs. Race” is merely the latest salvo
against equal opportunity programs in admissions. Those with wealth and privilege have been the
majority of students attending selective colleges and universities since 1636. Urging the Academy to diversify its student
body by considering socio-economic status as well as race, athletic ability,
musical ability, geographic diversity and host of other factors, is a laudable
effort. To substitute race with class is
not.
First, with the sheer number of low-income white students,
the proportion of minorities in this pool will decrease. Those who champion the “class vs. race” argument
understand and yet accept this outcome.
Secondly to assert that “wealthy” blacks, for instance, should not
receive a “preference” is to ignore the reality that there are very few
so-called wealthy blacks and that given the well-documented wealth gap, the “wealth”
of African Americans pales in comparison with that of their white counterparts. As important, research has shown that
middle-class students of color are more likely to perform as well as their
white peers than their less well-prepared counterparts.
In addition, while we assume that low SES minorities are as prepared
to perform in competitive colleges as their low-SES white counterparts, the
opposite is the case. As we noted in our Fisher amicus brief, “Research
shows that whites outperform underrepresented minorities in standardized
testing within income groups.” Low SES
plus race has a more disadvantaging effect than SES alone. Lastly, if one removes race from among the
many factors used in college admissions, the chances of a white student being
admitted increase by only approximately 1.6 points. (Goodwin Liu, “The Myth and Math of
Affirmative Action, Washington Post, April 14, 2002 at B1.)
Abandoning race as a factor would worsen the racial divide
in higher education.
There is no reason why colleges and universities cannot use both race and socio-economic status in
determining the best student body. Class
as an admissions factor should not obliterate the opportunities conferred by
the Fourteenth Amendment to its intended beneficiaries -- even if it is popular.
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