Affirmative action is still an effective tool in the college admissions process and should not be abolished.
The case that is going to the Supreme Court involves the University of Michigan’s admissions point system. Out of a total of 150 possible points, a student can earn up to 110 for academics and 40 for factors such as residency, according to a Newsweek report. Being from an underrepresented minority group or from a predominantly minority high school is worth 20 points. The same 20 points are awarded to athletes or to students from a low-income family. The university law school does not have a points system but university officials have said that race could be used as a factor.
This is an excellent admissions process. It considers all of the possible factors, not just academics. A wealthy person obviously would have more opportunities than a poor person. Race comes into play when it comes to keeping a campus diverse and keeping America’s elite diverse.
The Michigan dispute began in 1997, when four state legislators who opposed the admissions policy solicited the names of white students who believed they had been unfairly rejected by the law school or undergraduate programs, according to a USA Today report.
In U.S. district courts, Michigan won the undergraduate case but lost the law school case. Both cases will now be reviewed by the Supreme Court.
Affirmative action helps ensure that minorities will have equal opportunities.
Critics have said that whites are being discriminated against. This assumption is wrong.
Blacks account for 11 percent of undergraduates nationally; at the most elite schools the percentage is often smaller, according to Newsweek.
Minority student enrollment at America’s top universities is still much lower then white enrollment, which makes affirmative action a necessary tool in ensuring diversity.
In states where affirmative action has been replaced by other admission programs, (such as California), minority attendance at top colleges and universities drops, a Gannett News Service report said.
Without affirmative action there will be a void in America’s top universities. Something will be missing and that something is diversity.