The Debate Continues: Does Affirmative Action

on Campus Do More Harm Than Good?

By Robert Rosenkranz

The Debate

Although affirmative action aims to foster diversity and equal opportunity in higher education, it has long been the subject of debate, with some arguing that the policy itself constitutes a form of discrimination.

Others question its efficacy, citing difficulties experienced by students who are unprepared for higher education, as well as the potential for affluent students to take advantage of the policy despite their preexisting socioeconomic advantages.

ReexaminationIn June 2015, the Supreme Court announced that it would

reexamine affirmative action for the third time since 2003. Its focus: the University of Texas at Austin, whose race-

based admissions policies were last upheld in 2012 by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin.

In its next term beginning October 5, the Supreme Court will hear the case of Abigail Fisher, whose rejection for admission by UT-Austin prompted her to file suit against the university.

Her lawsuit challenged whether race-based admissions were necessary to create diversity at the school, citing existing policies aimed at ensuring minority enrollment.

In February 2014, Intelligence Squared US drew on the knowledge of an expert panel to address this polarizing policy with a debate on the motion “Affirmative Action on Campus Does More Harm Than Good.”

John DonvanFraming the topic, IQ2US moderator John Donvan remarked, “We stand now at the half century mark in a social experiment that has involved virtually every American whether or not she or he has wanted to be involved in it: Affirmative action. It was 1965 that President Johnson signed an order instituting affirmative action in government hiring. The idea was to make things right, to correct the legacy of minorities, and at that time in particular, African-Americans being denied a seat at the table, a remedy that then and ever since has been controversial, but no more so than when it has been applied to the question of who gets accepted into America's elite universities or not. In university admissions, the debate and the argument has been that affirmative action has mostly achieved and is mostly achieving its goals, or that it is not. Well, that sounds like the basis for a debate.”

Image Source: http://insidevero.com/2014/03/28/fear-china-debate-to-be-held-april-15th-at-riverside-theatre/

In previous affirmative action cases, the Supreme Court has found that while the aim of assembling a racially diverse student body constitutes a compelling state interest warranting judicial deference, this deference should not apply when the court is investigating the specific methods used to achieve that goal.

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As the Supreme Court prepares to address the topic of affirmative action once more, the IQ2US poll continues to measure public opinion. Cast your vote here: http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/past-debates/item/1054-affirmative-action-on-campus-does-more-harm-than-good&tab=2