What is Affirmative Action?
The discussion of affirmative action has caused discourse throughout the educational system. Because of widespread racism, many people believe that affirmative action relies solely on letting minorities cheat their way into a position because of their skin color. This is seen especially when African-American communities are brought into the discussion. Additionally, many ignore how it grants lower-income families scholarships and doesn’t allow colleges to throw out applications because of race.
Originally, it was initiated in 1965 and coined by Hobart Taylor, Jr., an African-American attorney. Affirmative action was made to diversify institutions, usually by including more minorities and women into their population, while also halting racism and promoting inclusion within those spaces. Due to lack of understanding, it was unfortunately struck down by the Supreme Court in June of 2023.
Affirmative action is considered a way for minorities to ‘cheat’ their way into college. This opinion, while widespread and incorrect, ignores the true purpose, which was to allow low income and first generation students to have college experiences.
Who Does It Affect the Most?
The result of the court ruling has led to scholarship programs shutting down in multiple colleges, specifically the private institution, Duke University. The Reginaldo Howard Memorial Scholar Program scholarship helped the top applicants of African descent, giving them a full-ride and a safespace to explore their education. This scholarship was in place because of Duke’s history with racism against its African-American students.
Nonetheless, instead of implementing more scholarships for students of all races, they ignored the achievement of low-income African-Americans in a lackluster attempt to diversify and took away their education, further avoiding their history of racism. As a private university, they have every option to help many of the low-income minorities in their community if they wanted to, but instead focused on one specific minority group with a lack of inclusion in the education system.
Other colleges, such as those in the UC system, have implemented programs like the Education Opportunity Program (EOP) to assist minorities of low-income and give them a community. This program was made to provide first-generation and disadvantaged students an opportunity to experience college.
UC Santa Barbara introduced the Summer Transitional Enrichment Program (STEP) for first year students in EOP to experience a week of college, free of cost. This program allowed for a diverse group of low-income students to feel a sense of community while enriching them with many different cultures. The discussion of a culturally diverse environment within a university is a significant topic which allows many students to understand their peer’s perspectives while also gaining empathy.
How Does Affirmative Action Affect College Students Socially?
During my interview with Tricha Smith, an African-American alumni of UCLA, now an attorney, she discusses her interactions with other students who believed she only got so far in her education because of affirmative action.
The belief that African-Americans and Latinx communities couldn’t achieve a degree without cheating through affirmative action was prominent in many students. Unbeknownst to them, the UC system discontinued affirmative action in 1996. Tricha entered UCLA as a freshman in 2009, which means it was her grades, merit, and personal dedication that propelled her into such a prestigious institution.
Although that is what other students believed, Tricha persevered, found her community with other African-Americans, and graduated with a degree in Mathematics and Economics. Tricha is just one story in a sea of thousands of qualified African-American students.
For those who believe that African-American students have only and can only persevere because of affirmative action, this shows their bias. But it allows for opportunities for the less fortunate, even though many African-Americans and other minority groups achieve their education without the assistance of affirmative action.
Conclusion
African-American student enrollment has dropped by 22% between 2010 and 2020, and since then, dropped even more by 7%. Due to affirmative action being taken down, the loss of scholarships for lower-income students has burdened families who want their children to have a higher education. Additionally, Latinx and African-American households ultimately have a drastically lower net worth compared to White and Other households.
Data shows the call to remove affirmative action negatively targets low-income minority students. These universities who boast about caring for the education of young adults will be ignoring the intellectual advantage of understanding others’ cultures. With this extreme wealth gap, will universities ignore these numbers and take away young adults’ right to have a education?
