You are asked to give a speech to a group of influential business leaders, university presidents, and political figures.
The speech is entitled “A New Vision for Diversity,” and in it, you will address the key issue of affirmative action, policies related to it, and acceptable goals for such policies. For the class, write a summary of this speech, focusing mainly on the goals for your new vision for diversity and why those goals are of vital importance.
Sociology Is A Martial Art!: Affirmative Action In The Courts And Beyond
“Fisher V. University Of Texas”
In 2015, a case before the Supreme Court brought affirmative action once again into the spotlight. Abagail Fisher, a student who’d applied and been rejected to the University of Texas at Austin sued the university, alleging that being white disadvantaged her. She claimed that she’d been rejected specifically because UT-Austin considered race as a factor in admissions, and that less qualified minority students had been admitted at her expense. The Court upheld the UT’s right to consider race in their admissions process, and Ms. Fisher lost the case definitively.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in the 4-3 decision in the case, stating, “A university is in large part defined by those intangible qualities which are incapable of objective measurement but which make for greatness.” He continued, “Considerable deference is owed to a university in defining those intangible characteristics, like student body diversity, that are central to its identity and educational mission,” and went on to add, “it remains an enduring challenge to our nation’s education system to reconcile the pursuit of diversity with the constitutional promise of equal treatment and dignity.”
The question of the fairness and value of affirmative action, both in institutions of higher education and other types of organizations, remains an important one. Social Sciences continue to produce considerable evidence that hiring, promotion, and admissions processes in different organizations privilege individuals on the basis of race, gender, and so forth.
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