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The Use of Race-Based Affirmative Action by Elite Colleges and Universities: Creating Alternatives

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The Use of Race-Based Affirmative Action by Elite Colleges and Universities: Creating Alternatives THE USE OF RACE-BASED AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BY ELITE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES: CREATING ALTERNATIVES A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of The School of Continuing Studies and of The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Liberal Studies By Gerard M. Puckerin, M.A.L.S. Georgetown University Washington, D.C. December 1, 2015 © Copyright 2015 By Gerard M. Puckerin All Rights Reserved ii THE USE OF RACE-BASED AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BY ELITE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES: CREATING ALTERNATIVES Gerard M. Puckerin, M.A.L.S. Chair: Francis Ambrosio, Ph.D. Co-Chair: Frank C. Worrell, Ph.D. ABSTRACT The practice of using race-based affirmative action to admit underrepresented ethnic minorities who, when comparing standardized test scores and grade point averages, are considered less qualified than Whites draws contentious public debate. Racial preferences remain unpopular, in large part, because most people realize that getting into a selective college often generates many advantages for the student. For instance, less selective colleges spend approximately $12,000 per student while the most selective universities expend approximately $92,000 per student. Employment wages are estimated to be 5 percent to 20 percent higher for graduates of selective colleges, and extensive research has shown that 54 percent of America’s corporate leaders and 42 percent of high government officials are graduates of just 12 of the top universities in the country. My thesis proffers, through an inferential and comparative analysis of several bodies of literature on the topic, that using race-based affirmative action in higher education, generally, and among selective colleges and universities, specifically, to bring about social equality is contrary to the policy’s original intended purpose. Moreover, affirmative action policy, as is currently used by selective colleges, causes greater harm than good. This is not to say that its application in the admissions process among selective college admissions is unnecessary, since iii racism still exists in the United States. Rather, I argue that the current application of affirmative action policies by selective colleges causes a diminution of the policy’s true effectiveness. I further argue that because most inner-city elementary and secondary schools are bankrupt educationally, elite colleges and universities seeking to recruit well qualified minority candidates to their institutions would be better off investing resources to help uplift the academic performance of students in these inferior schools. In so doing, a larger pool of academically well prepared minority and poor students will be created. These better prepared students will then be able to effectively compete for entry into these elite colleges and universities based solely on their academic record. I examine the most common arguments used by proponents and opponents of affirmative action in college admissions and analyze and critique them in relations to the case law established by the Supreme Court cases in Bakke and Gratz and Grutter. Additionally, in my analysis, I use a “training for a race” metaphor to determine the cogency of the arguments advanced by proponents and opponents of racial affirmative action in relation to my thesis’ assertions that (1) affirmative action currently used by selective colleges in their admissions process is contrary to the policy’s initial intent; (2) although affirmative action is still needed to address discriminatory actions against Blacks in the admissions process, the top-down approach will not bring about social equality; (3) a bottom-up approach is needed to ensure a larger pool of Black students receive a quality education; and (4) race-based admissions will no longer be needed once Blacks are given the opportunity to compete effectively during the admission process. My thesis is entirely literature-based. It is a critical, theoretical analysis of the pertinent works extracted from the voluminous body of research dealing with race-based affirmative iv action in higher education among selective colleges and universities. Since the study is a liberal arts work that traverses many different disciplines, the methodological approach used to construct the doctoral thesis differs from any of the traditional, single-discipline methodology that is generally used to put together its findings. Where quantitative data is relied upon for an examination of social trends or policy implications regarding race-based affirmative action in higher education admissions, the research of William Bowen and Derek Bok, Jerome Karabel, Daniel Golden, Richard D. Kahlenberg, Anthony Carneval and Stephen J. Rose, Terry H. Anderson, and others are used to inform the study’s assertions. v TABLE OF CONTENTS COPYRIGHT PAGE ii ABSTRACT iii INTRODUCTION 1 Contextualizing the Study 2 Ushering a New Era: The Birth of Affirmative Action 6 About the study 11 Author’s notes 15 CHAPTER ONE: EXECUTIVE, LEGISLATIVE, JUDICIARY, AND CIVIL UNREST 16 Brown and Its Afterrmath 18 Blacks Protests Sweep the Nation: President, Congress, and the Ivies Intervene 22 Current Law: Bakke and Grutter and Gratz 28 Values Pertinent to the Debate 34 Conclusion 36 CHAPTER 2 THE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DEBATE 40 Contextualizing the Debate 41 Arguments by Proponents of Race-Based Affirmative Action 44 Arguments by Opponents of Race-Based Affirmative Action 49 Critical Analysis of the Debate and Some of the Variable Embedded Therein 55 Missing the Mark: Creating a Larger Group of Competitive Black Students 69 Conclusion 70 CHAPTER 3 UNEQUAL SCHOOLING 73 Brief Background of Kozol’s Work and Rationale for Incorporating Savage Inequalities 74 Kozol’s Findings in Savage Inequalities And Shame of the Nation 77 Assessing Kozol’s Work: Where Do Inner-City Elementary and Secondary Schools Fit into the Education Pipeline 89 Conclusion 97 CHAPTER 4 KEEPING THE RACE RIGGED? 99 President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Commencement Speech at Howard University: Expanding on the Race Metaphor 101 Why Applying Race-Based Affirmative Action at the College Level Is Insufficient in Helping to Bring About Greater Social Equality 107 vi Improving Inner-City Public Schools to Level the Playing Field: A Bottom-Up Approach 113 Conclusion 121 CHAPTER 5 LEVELLING THE EDUCATION PLAYING FIELD 123 Identifying Places for Intervention: A Look at Suburban and Inner-City Public Schools 125 Early Childhood Education: Head Start 131 Greater Intervening Possibilities Identified: Integrating Segregated Urban Schools? 141 A Rejoinder: K-16 Education and Race-Based Affirmative Action in Elite College Admissions 138 Conclusion 143 CONCLUSION 144 BIBLIOGRAPHY 153 vii INTRODUCTION This interdisciplinary doctoral thesis examines whether the use of race-based affirmative action by selective colleges and universities during the admissions process is justifiable. The thesis also examines whether there are any viable alternatives to the use of racial affirmative action. Although the current use of race-based affirmative action is primarily aimed at creating greater diversity on college campuses, secondarily, it hopes to bring about greater social equality between Blacks and Whites. With conservatives and disgruntled citizens attacking the policy’s use, school administrators must ultimately convince nine Supreme Court Justices that there are no other solutions available that can ensure student diversity at their schools. Today, diversity is used to camouflage affirmative action’s original intent of creating greater equality for African Americans – its intended beneficiaries. Advocates of the policy argue that using race-based affirmative action is a means to provide compensation to Blacks for past wrongs stemming from slavery and Jim Crow. Detractors of the affirmative action counter that the policy is divisive, discriminates in favor of one group over another, stigmatizes its beneficiaries, and lowers educational standards in elite schools. Although both advocates and detractors of racial affirmative action offer equally compelling arguments, I contend that they both miss the point relative to the creation of greater educational opportunities for African Americans. Through the works of notable scholars like Jonathan Kozol, William Bowen, Derek Bok, Terry Anderson, and others, I argue that the use of race-based affirmative action by elite colleges and universities, though necessary, is insufficient in helping to bring about greater equality of educational opportunity for African Americans in this country. 1 I contend that if the educational playing field is to be truly levelled, the need for a bottom-up approach is required. A bottom-up approach will augment the top-down approach currently practiced and argued for by proponents who support the use of race-based affirmative action. The bottom-up approach, I further argue, will create a larger pool of academically well- prepared African-American students who will be able to effectively compete with their more privileged peers for college seats at elite schools on their own “merit” without needing a leg-up. Once a larger pool of academically well prepared Black students is created, the need for race- based affirmative action could be eliminated in a generation or two. Contextualizing the Study The story of affirmative action specifically, and civil rights generally, is one that begins with the new nation’s acceptance of slavery. It is a tragic story that, as it unfolds, illuminates a shameful past where human relations gave
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