Michigan State University Extension
Diversity and Pluralism - 20293035
12/95/
ERIC TITLE NUMBER: ED202368 AUTHOR: Jordan, Vernon E., Jr.
TITLE: From Discrimination to Affirmative Action.
YEAR PUBLISHED: 1978
NOTE: 13 p.; Paper presented at a Seminar for State Leaders
in Postsecondary Education (New York, NY, September 1978).
Some pages may be marginally legible.
ABSTRACT: Perspectives on the Bakke Supreme Court decision
are considered. It is claimed that some of the distortions
in the public perception of the Bakke case are the
responsibility of the media coverage. Although the Court
said that race may be a factor in the admissions process,
many people, with the effect of headlines of "Bakke Wins,"
think otherwise. A concern is whether corporate and
educational officials will use the ambiguities of the Bakke
decision to weaken or even abandon their affirmative action
commitments. It is suggested that affirmative action
programs have come about only because of insistent
pressures of black people and their allies, and only
because sufficient pressure was brought to enact laws and
compliance mechanisms mandating black participation in
American institutional life. It is proposed that the merit
system was invoked to keep blacks out, on the basis of test
scores and grade averages, but that the system could find
room for C students who play football or are born into the
family of a wealthy alumnus. It is further proposed that
even a merit system based solely on test scores is
inadequate as a selection mechanism, because tests have not
been devised that can accurately predict future success.
The challenge for individuals and institutions to overcome
the pervasive discrimination of the past, and to ensure
black educational opportunity and the moral integrity of
higher education institutions is noted. (SW)
KEY DESCRIPTORS: Access-to-Education; Court-Litigation;
Educational-Discrimination; Educational-Opportunities;
Equal Education; Higher-Education; Race-;
Student-Characteristics;
Student-Evaluation
KEY DESCRIPTORS: *Admission-Criteria; *Affirmative-Action;
*Black-Students; *College-Admission; *Racial-Discrimination
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This file was generated from data base DP on 06/25/02.
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