with poll: Affirmative action, Jennifer Gratz back in the news
Affirmative action and Jennifer Gratz are back in the news.
Gratz applied for admission to the University of Michigan, was rejected, and sued the school in 1997. Paired with a similar case against the University of Michigan Law School, her case made its way to the Supreme Court in 2003.
This week, NPR explored how far affirmative action has come.
Jennifer Gratz has been at the center of a national debate on affirmative action since she was one of two plaintiffs to sue U-M over its admissions policies in 1997.
Columnists at the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times recently explored affirmative action as it relates to white racial anxiety.
"I believe that white racial anxiety, not immigration, will be the most significant and potentially dangerous socio-demographic trend of the coming decade...." Los Angeles Times columnist Gregory Rodriguez wrote in "Affirmative action's time is up." "...I am so convinced of this that I think to avoid a destructive white backlash in the face of a rapidly diversifying society, the president should call for an end to affirmative action."
The 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling upheld the U-M Law School's affirmative action policy that offers an advantage to minorities. In a separate case, the justices struck down the points system in undergraduate admissions at U-M, which had awarded 20 points for African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans on an admissions ratings scale.
"There were rumors in high school that the University of Michigan used race in their admissions policy," Gratz was quoted on NPR as saying. "I remember hearing that and thinking, 'There's no way — that can't be true.' "
Michigan, California and Washington have passed bans on affirmative action in the admissions process at public institutions, while Texas has a court-imposed ban.
Read and listen to the news reports, take our poll and tell us what you think in the comments section below.
Juliana Keeping is a higher education reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528.
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