Affirmative Action and University

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how beginning with such decisions as "Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas", the Supreme Court began to overturn discriminatory statutes and rule that "separate but equal" was not constitutional, and that no state had the right to deprive one group of citizens of equal protections and privileges under the law. It also looks at how the Bakke case marked a watershed in the Affirmative Action movement. Allan Bakke was a White man who was denied admission to the University of California at Davis despite the fact that his grades and test scores were higher than various minorities who had been accepted to the school. Bakke sued... all the way to the United States Supreme Court. It looks at how his was the very first affirmative action case to be heard by the nation's highest court and how it was to have profound consequences for American universities.

From the Paper:

"It was only yesterday that segregation reigned supreme across much of the United States. Throughout the South, Black students attended Black schools, and White Students attended White schools. And even outside the South, in places like California, a more informal kind of discrimination was practiced. Schools and universities often closed their doors to African-Americans and other minorities. People of Color could not gain admission to advanced studies' programs at prestigious schools such as the University of Southern California, and the University of California at Los Angeles. In this White-controlled society, it was the color of a person's skin that was the determining factor in his choice of career, his social and economic status, and even in his right to express himself politically. "

More papers on Affirmative Action and University:

• Term Paper # 136861 : "Affirmative Action and its Goals"
• Research Paper # 144912 : "Affirmative Action and Higher Education"
• Research Proposal # 145166 : "Affirmative Action and Race Relations"

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