Putting the “Affirmative” in Affirmative Action

Putting the “Affirmative” in Affirmative Action

A Viewpoint submitted to The Michigan Daily by Joshua Morof

     In a few months, the use of affirmative action in undergraduate college admissions may become a thing of the past.  At least, that is a possible outcome of the current Supreme Court case Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin.  Abigail Fisher, who is white, claims that she was denied admissions to the University of Texas, which uses race-conscious admissions practices, solely because of her race (Liptak).  In light of this and other recent events surrounding this issue, I would like to take the time to explain why I believe it is necessary to put the “affirmative” in affirmative action.
     To begin, the use of affirmative action in college admissions results in a number of well known and often misunderstood outcomes.  Diversity on campus is increased, and equally qualified members of minority groups who grew up in communities without the resources and tools necessary to succeed are given a better opportunity to receive a college education. 
     Some opposed to affirmative action argue that colleges already have enough diversity.  However, when looking at schools, including the University of Michigan, which currently has a ban on affirmative action as a result of Proposition 2, it becomes evident that diversity will dissipate along with affirmative action (The Century Foundation).  The only way to ensure the maintenance of a diverse college community tomorrow is by keeping affirmative action in place today.  
     In addition, more and more people today, including Abigail Fisher, believe that affirmative action is reverse discrimination.  They argue that instead of providing whites with a level playing field, it unfairly punishes whites, lowering their chances of being accepted to undergraduate institutions.  On the contrary, affirmative action is in no way discriminatory, but rather a way to remove the effects of generations of discrimination.
     Affirmative action is greatly beneficial to minority groups.  However, what is less well known is that the benefits are shared by the entire campus community.  According to the findings of the National Center for Institutional Diversity, students who interact with people of different races during college are far more prepared to enter the growing global workforce (Jayakumar).  While the communities that we hail from may not be extremely diverse, the world that we live in is.  Diversity fosters creativity and students need to be prepared for an increasingly diverse workforce, both here and abroad.  
     Abigail Fisher believes that colleges should be color blind in deciding who to admit (Liptak).  However, Fisher and those who support her are forgetting one thing: our world is not color blind.  Martin Luther King dreamed that we could live in a world with true equality.  He spent his life advocating for a society where we do not judge one another based on the color of our skin, race or religion.  Through an interfaith organization which I started in my hometown called Face to Faith, which brings together teens of different faith traditions in an effort to defeat stereotypes and create community through the use of dialogue, I have advocated the same.  
     Nevertheless, race still plays a major role throughout our lives today, and ignoring it now is ignoring the true issue at hand, which is that we have not yet achieved full equality for everyone.  Our laws today have done all they can do to ensure equality, but we are not yet there.  The only way to create full equality begins with affirmative action. 
     I use the word begin because simply increasing the amount of diversity on campus does not by any means guarantee the creation of mutual understanding and respect.  Rather, it is in our hands as current students and future leaders to make this vision of equality become a reality.  It is also our responsibility to take into account the warning that Chimamanda Adichie, a Nigerian writer, has of the effects of judging others who are different than us without taking the opportunity to see past the stereotypes.  “The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity.  It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult.  It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar” (Adichie).
     However, when we attend programs like Face to Faith and take the time and effort to get to know those who seem different than ourselves on a personal level, we begin to realize how similar we all really are.  Intergroup dialogues foster the creation of a stronger, equal community. 
     In order for justice to be served and equality to be created, I argue it is imperative that these dialogues become a regular, if not mandatory, part of life on college campuses.  The differences we once thought were so clear, the stereotypes we believed to be the full truth and the single story we considered to be the complete one begin to disappear.  The realization that we are much more similar than we are different is something that we will carry with us outside the boundaries of our college campuses.  It will be with us in everything we do, and it is the only way that we can truly create a full equality in our society.  
      Affirmative action provides us with the necessary tools, and intergroup dialogues use them to break the barriers between us and build a community full of equality.
     We did not create this injustice, but we have the power to solve it.  However, if the Supreme Court sides with Fisher, our hopes of achieving equality in the near future may be lost along with affirmative action.  

Works Cited 

Adichie, Chimanda. "The Danger of a Single Story." TED Talk. 10 Oct. 2012. Speech. 

The Century Foundation. "A Better Affirmative Action." Tcf.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2012. <http://tcf.org/publications/pdfs/ABAA.pdf>.

Liptak, Adam. "Supreme Court to Hear Case on Affirmative Action." NYTimes.com. N.p., 8 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/us/scourt.html>.
Jayakumar, Uma M. "Can Higher Education Meet the Needs of an Increasingly Diverse and 
Global Society?" Harvard Educational Review. N.p., 3 Feb. 2009. Web. 8 Dec. 2012.

King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]." Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]. N.p., n.d. 10 Oct. 2012.