| Topic Name: |
Race |
| Message Name: |
Affirmative action per se is probably on the decline |
| Date Posted: |
12/10/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
You are not supposed to already know any of this, but race based quotas in education admissions are illegal in the United States. Race currently may be used as a factor in admissions pursuant to Justice Powell's split majority opinion in Bakke, but that is being reviewed today by the 6th Circuit in Grutter v. Bollinger. Check out Linda Greenhouse's articles in the New York Times to get a clearer perspective on this.
Race does make a difference in the admissions game, because no school wants to have an 98% white and asian male population that often results from straight grade-&-LSAT admissions procedures (these groups statistically do better in these categories than other groups). Nonetheless, no one gets into a top tier law school without being qualified. Race plays a role only in selecting the final "yes" applications out of the "would be ok" pile - or at least that's what a lot of people think Powell was getting at.
I don't know how policies compare between UG and Law.
Good Luck |
| Message: |
I just wanted to add that the Supreme Court recently denied cert in a Texas (5th Circuit) affirmative action case called Hopwood v. Texas. There, the 5th circuit ruled that Texas' affirmative action policy, which was based on Bakke, was unconstitutional.
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