Race-Consciousness and Colorblindness: The Case of Ambivalence, Merit, & Diversity Regarding the Affirmative Action Repeal

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Abstract

Given the recent overturning of affirmative action and the movement towards colorblind, meritocratic policies over diversity related race-conscious ones, this study argues that students may be motivated to be more colorblind in their opinions about the affirmative action repeal. In addition, I anticipate freshman (the first cohort after the repeal) will report that the repeal affected the content of their personal essays, although this may disproportionately be students of color. To observe if these hypotheses about opinions are supported, I interviewed 30 students about their perspectives on affirmative action and experiences with personal essays. Students are attending a large, midwestern university and were sampled from the last cohort before the affirmative action repeal and the first cohort after the repeal given their recent experience with admissions and to showcase personal essay content after the repeal. Results indicate that students, regardless of background demographics, cite colorblind or race-conscious perspectives about affirmative action. Regardless of the perspective, most students cited similar, if not the same, ambivalent motivations for holding race-conscious or colorblind perspectives. Motivations often centered around merit and diversity in acknowledgement or non-recognition of systematic inequality. As for essay content, most reported not being affected by the repeal because of their “whiteness” or not knowing it happened. Only one Asian student reported changing their essay to discuss race and ethnicity in response to the repeal to “circumvent” its effects.

Author

• Kylie May, Indiana University-Indianapolis