The Burden of Diversity Work

• In Event: Reconceptualizing "Diversity" for Socially Just Education: Research Themes From Early Childhood to Higher Education

Abstract

Many lay people still think affirmative action is about giving African Americans extra points or putting a “thumb on the scale” for them in higher education admissions. Many Whites still see this as unfair and that Blacks are undeserving of race-conscious affirmative action. But a progression of important court cases will ultimately decide whether affirmative action continues as a policy, most notably the Harvard case set to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023. But, the story of how the most recent prior cases have been decided in the Supreme Court tells a story of movement away from affirmative action’s initial intent. These decisions have moved affirmative action policies toward a framework of interest convergence, based in a diversity ideology which says that diversity narrative that is supposed to benefit everyone.
In this paper I will outline the “how” and “why” of four of the most recent and influential affirmative action cases. We see both the “how” and “why” of affirmative action policies narrowing to the point that although these rulings “saved” affirmative action, they have also created difficult legal strategies for utilizing it. In other words, this narrowing has created more and more ambiguous and circuitous ways to satisfy the court in terms of how to implement constitutional race-consciousness affirmative action.
By understanding the justification of the Court in cases of affirmative action and diversity and not only the facts of the case and the result for the parties, we can begin to see how the Supreme Court is responsible for changing how we think about race from a 14th Amendment equal protection legal argument to a 1st Amendment freedom of expression within universities to foster and teach the educational benefits of diverse learning environment. In this way, the U.S. Supreme Court has erased the historical legacy of racism on students of color’s opportunities to access high-status and elite institutions of higher education while still failing to address the quality of the teaching and learning that occurs with higher education policy.

Author

• Amy Jones Haug, University of Kentucky
  Presenting Author