The Supreme Court has granted review for the 2012 term in the case "Fisher v. University of Texas." Abigail Fisher, a rejected white applicant to the University of Texas, has challenged the use of racial and ethnic admission preferences, which the Court had allowed in its 2003 decision involving the University of Michigan law school,…

The author reports on a Supreme Court case that is echoing across the University of Texas at Austin, and for some students, it is personal. Not long after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Abigail Fisher's case against the University of Texas at Austin, a lighthearted joke made the rounds at the Warfield Center for African and African-American…

The question addressed in this petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court is "When only a small fraction of thousands of applicants can be admitted, does the equal protection clause forbid a state university professional school faculty from voluntarily seeking to counteract effects of generations of pervasive discrimination…

The history of the social, legal, and educational aspects of equal opportunity and equal results are outlined, and the rift between the two principles is described. Equal opportunity laws work, especially when enforced expeditiously, and are supported by most Americans. Equal results laws are a failure and counterproductive. (Author/AL)

The main question of this case is whether Allan Bakke was denied the equal protection of the laws in contravention of the 14th Amendment, solely because of his race, as the result of a racial quota admission policy. A statement of the case which reviews pertinent data such as the admission procedure of the medical school, Bakke's interview and…

The Bakke Case is important because it is part of continuum wherin the Supreme Court has been slowly shifting, placing a much higher burden of proof upon the person who has suffered from exclusion, discrimination, or oppression. (Author/AM)

Schools are essentially expected to provide all students with the same educational opportunity despite where they live, or their ability levels. Education Action Zones (EAZs) and Zones d'Education Prioritaire (ZEPs) have been implemented to help eradicate the issue of student equity, promising innovation and a solution to inequalities evidenced in…

There have been numerous lawsuits within higher education brought by females over pay inequity and many articles have been written on the topic. Although not as prevalent, there have been some recent instances where male faculty have claimed--with some degree of success--that the process used by their institutions to make salary adjustments for…

Discussions on the affirmative action issue have failed to realize that if race as a concept was used in the past to decide who would not benefit from the American Dream, it must now be used to remedy the effects of what has happened. (Author/AM)

Nathan Glazer's book "Affirmative Discrimination: Ethnic Inequality and Public Policy" is reviewed with a focus on the highly divisive nature of redistributive justice in America and its consequences. (DS)

This book examines the law and politics surrounding the Bakke case ("Regents of the University of California v. Bakke") and discusses the key arguments presented by both sides in the context of the current eroding public support for affirmative action. The goal is to elucidate the dynamics of U.S. Supreme Court decision making and…

Several court cases concerning affirmative action programs both in education and in employment are reviewed in light of Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act. Implications of past court decisions are discussed, as are possible future decisions. (MC)

Today, the United States stands at a critical crossroad with regard to civil rights; the choice is between an officially colorblind society and a government-supported, race-conscious one. The purpose of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments was to end a discriminatory system and to erect in its place a regime of race neutrality. In 1896, the…

Following the desegregationists' victory in "Brown v. Board of Education" in 1954, there came a succession of gains for desegregation, until a new phenomenon developed in "Bakke v. Regents of University of California" in 1973. Since Bakke's grades and test scores were higher than those of some minority applicants admitted to…

The CRitical Issue Bibliography (CRIB) Sheet describes resources related to affirmative action. The bibliography is divided into four sections designed to help provide a foundation for those implementing an affirmative action program or conducting research on this topic. Overview describes resources that describe the history of affirmative action,…