Throughout the semester we have studied and discussed how the master narrative has led many to believe that our nation has had a clear cut civil rights movement, that legislation has passed, people are equals, oh, and racism is a thing of the past. But what happens when affirmative action—Intended to address the historical and systemic discrimination—is banned in the college admissions process by the Supreme Court?
Lately, the University of Michigan has received quite the press coverage. Over the past two decades, white students have filed lawsuits against the UofM claiming that their rejection violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This is exactly what Jennifer Gratz and Patrick Hamacher did in Gratz v. Bollinger in 1997 and Barbara Grutter in 1997, with Grutter v. Bollinger.
Fast forward 16yrs:
Last November, the Black Student Union launched the #BBUM, or Being Black at the University of Michigan, with the intention of amplifying the voices of the 4.6 percent black students. This January, the Black Student Union created a list of demands for university and held a rally to air their grievances and demands. Among the demands:
- Power to implement change through
- Available housing (on central campus) for those of lower SES at a rate that students can afford
- Opportunity to congregate and share experiences located on central campus
- Opportunity to be educated and to educate about US historical marginalization of groups
- Equal opportunity to succeed with emergency students needing financial support
- Increased disclosure of all documents in library -> Transparency of university and past dealings with race relations
- Increase of black representation to equal 10%
(Detailed list of demands linked at the bottom of post.)
One student expresses how long students have been waiting and bargaining with the school, “We have heard the university use the phrase ‘We are listening’ since 1973.” In the demands, the BSU students gave the university 7 days to meet the demands and if the demand are not met then the students would be forced to escalate as needed. The Black Student Union website details the process that they have taken in order to be heard.
This April 22nd, 2014 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the ban on affirmative at the University of Michigan. UofM falls in line with states such as Florida and California which have already seen the repercussions of banning affirmative action. What would this mean for the University of Michigan? Do you agree with the ruling of the Supreme Court? Would this ruling encourage more lawsuits? Affirmative action has been a subject of debate since it began and the arguments for/against vary incredibly especially within the group that it initially intended to "benefit." I may be stating the obvious, but the Supreme Court decision ignores the structural inequalities that have been imposed over the decades. The colorblind ideology makes talking about race much more difficult because you can't fight something what you can't see.
Sources:
Facts: http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/12/us/affirmative-action-fast-facts/
Black Student Union at University of Michigan: http://www.theblackstudentunion.com/#!second-aid/c1nb0
Demands of Black Wolverines: http://media.wix.com/ugd/9c831c_b53829145c0f48cb8618c00b30903c2b.pdf
Breaking news about UMich: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sotomayor-accuses-colleagues-of-trying-to-wish-away-racial-inequality/2014/04/22/e5892f90-ca49-11e3-93eb-6c0037dde2ad_story.html
#BBUM video – The University of Michigan Students of Color Call for Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Bt_RkjBfc
I think that if race did not matter, we wouldn't still be talking about it. It is obviously a major issue at Michigan if the Black Student Union had to issue a set of demands in order for their voices to be heard and concerns to be addressed. (That in itself reminds me of what the students at LeMoyne did in Memphis.) In the article, Sotomayer had evidence that there is a decline of minorities after they discarded affirmative action which in turn leads to whitewashing the university. Their actions mean that countless minority students will lose the opportunity to attend a university like Michigan and the students that do attend will not have the opportunity to have a diverse community or conversations. They will be robbed of hearing the stories of peers who have different backgrounds than their own. If Michigan has the gall to do this, however, maybe minority students (and self-aware white students for that matter) wouldn't want to attend a university like this anyway.
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