Affirmative Action:

How Do We Move Forward?

On June 29th, 2023, the Supreme Court effectively ended race conscious admissions practices in higher education with a 6-3 conservative majority decision. The two cases, Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, overturned 45 years of legal precedent that allowed race to be used in admissions criteria.


Since 1978, with the Regents of the University of California v. Bakke case, the Court viewed affirmative action as lawful; this ruling was tested and upheld many times in subsequent cases, including lawsuits where white women claimed unfair practices in higher education admission because of their race.


While colleges and universities may consider income or class rankings in admissions criteria, larger questions about diversity, equity, and inclusion remain. How will less emphasis on race in higher education ultimately affect the workplace? Compounding the picture is the continuing decline of college enrollment, largely due to the student debt crisis. With tuition growing faster than income, student loan debt is a trillion dollar problem for Americans, despite government efforts to forgive loans.


Affirmative Action explores the history, impact, and controversy surrounding this important topic. It urges us to consider how institutions can adapt their policies and practices, while preserving their commitment to social justice, equitable access to education, and institutional aid.


"Ira Katznelson fundamentally recasts our understanding of twentieth-century American history and demonstrates that all the key programs passed during the New Deal and Fair Deal era of the 1930s and 1940s were created in a deeply discriminatory manner. Through mechanisms designed by Southern Democrats that specifically excluded maids and farm workers, the gap between blacks and whites actually widened despite postwar prosperity. In the words of noted historian Eric Foner, "Katznelson's incisive book should change the terms of debate about affirmative action, and about the last seventy years of American history."

"From a journalist on the frontlines of the Students for Fair Admission (SFFA) v. Harvard case comes a probing examination of affirmative action, the false narrative of American meritocracy, and the attack on Asian American excellence with its far-reaching implications―from seedy test-prep centers to gleaming gifted-and-talented magnet schools, to top colleges and elite business, media, and political positions across America.


Asian Americans’ time is now, as they increase their direct action and amplify their voices in the face of mounting anti-Asian attacks. An Inconvenient Minority chronicles the political and economic repression and renaissance of a long ignored racial identity group―and how they are central to reversing America’s cultural decline and preserving the dynamism of the free world."

"In this important book, an eminent authority presents a new perspective on affirmative action, investigating its actual consequences in the United States and in other countries where it has been in effect. Evaluating his empirical data, Thomas Sowell concludes that race preference programs worldwide have not met expectations and have often produced the opposite of what was originally intended."


"Natasha Warikoo dives into the arguments for and against a policy that has made it to the US Supreme Court many times. She digs into the purposes of higher education and the selection process itself to argue that it is a mistake to equate college admissions with personal merit and reward. College admissions should be based on furthering the mission of higher education: contributing to our shared democracy and to the human condition. Ultimately, Warikoo concludes that a focus on individual fairness conceals much more important questions about justice. No matter what their perspective, readers will find themselves thinking anew and asking the deeper questions that underlie this emotive debate.​"

"What precisely is affirmative action, and why is it fiercely championed by some and just as fiercely denounced by others? Does it signify a boon or a stigma? Or is it simply reverse discrimination? What are its benefits and costs to American society? What are the exact indicia determining who should or should not be accorded affirmative action? When should affirmative action end, if it must?


Randall Kennedy gives us a concise and deeply personal overview of the policy, refusing to shy away from the myriad complexities of an issue that continues to bedevil American race relations."

"In this important, ambitious, far-reaching audiobook, Urofsky writes about the affirmative action cases decided by the Supreme Court: cases that either upheld or struck down particular plans that affected both governmental and private entities. We come to fully understand the societal impact of affirmative action: how and why it has helped, and inflamed, people of all walks of life; how it has evolved; and how, and why, it is still needed."

"A timely defense of affirmative action policies that offers a more nuanced understanding of how centuries of invidious racism, discrimination, and segregation in the United States led to and justifies such policies from both a moral and constitutional perspective.... Intended to address our nation's often horrifying discrimination against Black Americans and other minorities, affirmative action has led over the past sixty years to far greater minority representation across a vast range of industries, government positions, and academic institutions. Nonetheless, affirmative action policies in the United States continue to fall under assault. n A Legacy of Discrimination, Lee C. Bollinger and Geoffrey R. Stone, two of America's leading constitutional scholars, trace the policy's history and the legal challenges it has faced over the decades."

"The debate over affirmative action has raged for over four decades, with little give on either side. Most agree that it began as noble effort to jump-start racial integration; many believe it devolved into a patently unfair system of quotas and concealment. Now, with the Supreme Court set to rule on a case that could sharply curtail the use of racial preferences in American universities, law professor Richard Sander and legal journalist Stuart Taylor offer a definitive account of what affirmative action has become, showing that while the objective is laudable, the effects have been anything but."

"In the 1960s, we resolved as a nation never to judge people by the color of their skin. But today, race-based public policy has once again become the norm, this time under the banner of affirmative action. How, asks Terry Eastland, did such a turnabout take place, and how can we restore colorblind law in America today? In this compelling and powerful book, Eastland lays bare the absurdities and injustices of affirmative action, and presents the strongest case to date for doing away with race-based and gender-based preferences—a ringing call for all Americans to reclaim our nation's shared values of equal protection under the law, without reference to race, color, creed, gender, or national origin."

"Twice denied admission to a California medical school despite better grades and test scores than successful minority applicants, Allan Bakke took his grievance to court and set off a major controversy over affirmative action. Bakke claimed that he was a victim of reverse discrimination, and his case has been considered by many as the most important civil rights decision since the end of segregation—and also one of the most difficult ever heard by the Supreme Court."

"How is it that recipients of white privilege deny the role they play in reproducing racial inequality? Racing for Innocence addresses this question by examining the backlash against affirmative action in the late 1980s and early 1990s―just as courts, universities, and other institutions began to end affirmative action programs.


This book recounts the stories of elite legal professionals at a large corporation with a federally mandated affirmative action program, as well as the cultural narratives about race, gender, and power in the news media and Hollywood films. Though most white men denied accountability for any racism in the workplace, they recounted ways in which they resisted―whether wittingly or not― incorporating people of color or white women into their workplace lives. Drawing on three different approaches―ethnography, narrative analysis, and fiction―to conceptualize the complexities and ambiguities of race and gender in contemporary America, this book makes an innovative pedagogical tool."

"In To Fulfill These Rights, Amaka Okechukwu offers a historically informed sociological account of the struggles over affirmative action and open admissions in higher education. Through case studies of policy retrenchment at public universities, she documents the protracted―but not always successful―rollback of inclusive policies in the context of shifting race and class politics. Okechukwu explores how conservative political actors, liberal administrators and legislators, and radical students have defined, challenged, and transformed the racial logics of colorblindness and diversity through political struggle. She highlights the voices and actions of the students fighting policy shifts in on-the-ground accounts of mobilization and activism, alongside incisive scrutiny of conservative tactics and messaging. To Fulfill These Rights provides a new analysis of the politics of higher education, centering the changing understandings and practices of race and class in the United States. "

"Julie J. Park examines how losing racial diversity in a university affects the everyday lives of its students. She uses a student organization, the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) at “California University,” as a case study to show how reductions in racial diversity impact the ability of students to sustain multiethnic communities."

"From landmark court cases on affirmative action to their consequences, a study on why such preferences are morally wrong, unlawful, and indefensible."

"Americans have come to accept certain standard ethnic and racial classifications--Black, White, Asian American, Hispanic, and Native American--as if they are part of the natural order of things. In fact, they are the product of regulations quietly enacted by federal bureaucrats in 1977. Where did these classifications come from? How are they defined? If someone's self-identification is disputed, how are they enforced? What should become of them in the future, with affirmative action preferences that rely on these classifications under legal threat, and the classifications themselves becoming increasingly incoherent after decades of large-scale immigration and increased interracial marriage? This book answers all those questions in a lively, well-researched, persuasive manner."

"Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, (2023), is a landmark

decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the court held that race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions processes violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.


On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court issued a decision that, by a

vote of 6–2, reversed the lower court ruling. In writing the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts held that affirmative action in college admissions is unconstitutional."

"In the gripping pages of "A Controversial Verdict: The Supreme Court's Stance on Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity," delve deep into the heart of one of the most contentious debates in our nation's history. Explore the landmark decisions and fiery arguments that have shaped the Supreme Court's stance on affirmative action, illuminating the complex interplay between diversity, meritocracy, and equal opportunity.With meticulous research and insightful analysis, this book uncovers the legal battles that have unfolded within the hallowed chambers of the Supreme Court, revealing the passionate voices and divergent perspectives that have shaped the course of affirmative action policies. From pivotal cases that challenged racial preferences in college admissions to groundbreaking decisions that aimed to level the playing field, every twist and turn in the court's journey is brought to life."

Questions for Thought

and Discussion

Summarize in one word how you feel about the latest court ruling.


What would you like to see or do moving forward in response to the Supreme Court decision?