Abigail Fisher Diversity

TS 2: How has diversity changed over the years? In the short article which is based off of her book, “Introduction from Place, Not Race: A New Vision of Opportunity in America” by Sheryll Cashin, the author talks about Abigail Fisher and the time when she was applying for her dream school, at the University of Texas. Fisher’s complaint about her admittance led to Fisher v. Texas; at that time, schools were using race as one of the factors for getting admitted into college. (Sheryll Cashin 714) As a nation, we have come a long way in terms of diversity and

Companies and educational institutions greatly benefit from the guidelines of affirmative action because they profit from the different ideas, work styles, and contributions unique to each diverse individual. As quoted in Paul Connors’s compilation, Affirmative Action, President of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, addresses the importance of a diverse educational system by stating, “The experience of arriving on a campus to live and study with classmates from a diverse range of backgrounds is essential to students' training for this new world, nurturing in them an instinct to reach out instead of clinging to the comforts of what seems natural or familiar” (12-13). A statement by Southeastern Oklahoma State University further supports the idea that success in modern day society stems from diversity saying, “Our country is strong because of the rich diversity of our culture, not in spite of it” (Affirmative Action).

One of the most problematic and controversial issues in The United States of America is affirmative action. Affirmative action is a policy of affording minorities certain privileges in order to combat the historical prejudice against them. In an effort to redress the historical injustices faced by African Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities, universities and employers across the nation have taken race into account when admitting students or hiring employees. Abigail Fisher, of Texas, applied for admission into the University of Texas at Austin (UT) and was denied; she sued the public university on the grounds of racial discrimination or reverse racism in the supreme court case Fisher v University of Texas.

This new concept was defined as the, “set of ideas, beliefs, narratives, and practices that constitute official, commonly recognized - but not necessarily hegemonic - understandings of race” (Berrey 2011). It is the belief that people, especially the leaders, of organizational groups will be the one to discuss this orthodoxy, thus increasing the rate at which it is socially accepted as a new norm. A main argument that Berrey makes that some programs in certain contexts are concerned with race, but others seem to not be concerned with race at all, as with what happened at the Michigan university. The article discussed what Berrey found to be the three major reasons for why diversity became orthodoxy at Michigan. The first and most dominant was the legal influence and precedent. The second was for the economic and demographic context of a higher education institution. The third was of the everyday uses for diversity that play into social

This innocent young man was unjustifiably murdered by a neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman (Coates). Since then, racial profiling and police brutality cases became the mainstream in the United States. In this case, it involved Zimmerman, who happened to be on duty when he saw a young black man wearing a sweater jacket called a “hoodie” walking through the neighborhood (Coates). He automatically misjudged and assumed that Martin was a thug and a dangerous citizen because of his appearance, but mainly because he was a black young man. Zimmerman called authorities on a suspicious character of Martin (CNN Library). The authorities instructed him to continue with his rounds and not worry about Martin. Zimmerman, however, decided to take matters into his own hands and confronted Martin. They got into an altercation and Zimmerman pulled out his gun, then shot and killed Martin (CNN Library). This incident was a tragic instance of stereotyping and racial profiling. It was also a case in point of how a judgment, based on the strict

For this, educational institutes view diversity as “as an essential resource for optimizing teaching and learning.” (Maruyama, Moreno, 9) for it enriches educational experiences by making us more of critical thinkers who judge based on character quality and of ones who could effectively communicate with people of different backgrounds thus strengthening communities and workplaces. Also, it is beneficial in sustaining the nation's prosperity in modern-day terms of diversity and differences. (On The Importance of Diversity in Higher Education). A research sates that elementary through high school students benefits more when they are in a diverse environment primary at school for they are then well exposed to people who are different from them, they learn to function and appreciate other cultures better, and are furthermost, well equipped for their future as community leaders and workers. In order to expand institutional diversity, many institutes (High schools, universities and colleges) are engaged in such activities of recruitment of underrepresented students, mentoring and tutoring programs, need-based financial aid scholarships and race-sensitive admission policies for these tools are indispensable to achieve a diverse environment. (Maruyama, Moreno, 9). Some of these race-inclusive activities were acknowledged by the Supreme Court’s 8 to 1 ruling in 1978 Regents of the University of

Diversity is an ongoing discussion in day-to-day life. Not many situations occur without diversity having a role. There are a multitude of topics that introduces or involves diversity, to include age, sex, race, gender, ethnicity and so on. Prior to participating in this Diversity Awareness class, I’ve always thought diversity was more geared around discrimination and racism. Through weekly readings and discussions, I have discovered that diversity is much broader than that. There are many countries that are mixed culturally

According to the dictionary diversity can be described as, “the condition of having or being composed of differing elements: variety; especially: the inclusion of different types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization” (Diversity, 2017). Some of the general notions of diversity is that it simply pertains to race, gender, and class but these groups are continuing to expand. Diversity also includes religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, etc. In this paper I would like to discuss different types of student affairs programs in higher education, their impacts on students, and implications of diversity in a selected law case.

For every college a student applies to they are asked to state personal characteristics like their gender, religion, and race. In a way, asking these students to specify their race on their applications allows the University an opportunity to discriminate. Universities across the nation deny they have quotas, and instead they say they have targeted goals in order to make a more diverse student body. Recently a 2016 case, Fisher vs. University of Texas, was reviewed by the Supreme Court. This particular case challenged the University’s Top Ten 10 Percent program that guarantees that top students in every high school within the state admission, although every year the cutoff usually varies (Liptak, 2016). The case also challenged the fact that the University of Texas and many other schools consider standards “that take into account academic achievement and other factors, including race and ethnicity” (Liptak, 2016). The Supreme Court’s ruling was a setback with 4 to 3 vote that “rejected a challenge to a race-conscious admissions program at the University of Texas at Austin…” (Liptak, 2016). However, in essence the Supreme Court’s decision to allow schools to use race as a deciding factor when students apply for colleges is inherently racist and it completely goes against what affirmative action truly stands. The ruling also defended the

On April 1, 2013 on a case was brought up in the United States Supreme Court about the course of affirmative action programs to reshape or reaffirm it. African-American students at the university at the core of the case say it is crucial that their school’s admissions practices remain intact of this program. By this time the court is expected to rule in its current term on a case involving a race-conscious admissions policy at the University of Texas at Austin, where there was a white female student insists that she was passed over for acceptance at the university’s graduate school because of its policy of promoting applicants who are African-American, Latino and Asian. If the university loses the case and the admissions policy is struck down,

"In principle, everybody is in favor of diversity and against discrimination" (Drehle A11). Everyone agrees that diversity is a good goal, but not everyone agrees on how this diversity should be achieved, especially since diversity encompasses so many different aspects. In 1996, judges in the 5th Circuit case Hopwood v. Texas ruled against the University of Texas law school's affirmative action program, saying that diversity should encompass more characteristics than just race (Robison 37). Bakke's decision had applied only to matters of race, but if the goal of affirmative action is to increase diversity, why should other characteristics be ignored? Is a black student with no talent or skill more diverse than a prodigy who plays cello, a whiz kid who understands chaos theory, or a starved child who forms his own hunger organization? Affirmative action may lead to racial diversity in universities, but racially diverse students are not necessarily students of diverse experiences.

During the last several decades, the diversity idea has evolved into higher education. However, implementing goals, concepts, and strategy has not been easy. Creating goals to increase multiculturalism, access, equity, and inclusion needs is complex. For nearly 50 years, higher education has actively addressed campus diversity issues (Smith & Wolf-Wendel, 2005). In the past, effective diversity changes that were made were ignored. Attention to diversity is only given in the face of necessary legal forces. Institutions create changes that are more symbolic but missing in human, financial, and technical resources; or influence new plans only when academic leaders are faced with powerful incidents. This paper will provide the foundation for

Our reader for this class does a great job in describing the benefits of diversity management and I do agree with all of it. Diversity is the way for the future, in business, community, education, and for national or federal social events. But our reader also describes the problems that are common and current within the business environment upon adapting, or should I say, implementing this agenda. For many people, the word “diversity” has taken on a different meaning, it has become a descriptive for “those others that are not white males.”

Where racial profilingis most prevelent by law enforcement, animosities run high and result in those most likely to be profiled against to not cooperate with law enforcement when necessary, even if they have not committed any crime. The case of Trayvon Martin is a single instance of the response of a community to racial profiling. On February 26, 2012, in Stanford, Florida, seventeen year old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a member of the neighborhood watch, under the allegations that he was a suspicious character. In reality, Martin was an innocet youth on his way to the gas station to aquire skittles and an iced tea. Because of his race, he was categorized incorrectly as a suspicious criminal. This case shows the dangerous opportunities that become open when dealing with racial profiling. The death of young Trayvon caused racial tensions to climb and the black community to band together. Before the trial of George Zimmerman took place, small riots and protests broke out across the nation in response to Martin’s death. Because he died in a hoodie, a stand was taken against opposing racews when hoodies were donned in Trayvon Martin’s honor. Racial profiling is a serious fallacy amongst the justice system of America and the reactions it causes are examples of that

Abigail Fisher, a white woman, has been the subject of many news stories lately. In a case brought to the Supreme Court in October of last year, Fisher claims to have suffered unfair treatment from the University of Texas. After being denied acceptance, presumably because of her racial aspects, Fisher decided to take her case to a higher power. In a story covering the initial hearing, a reporter describes the scene. Fisher’s lawyer argued against affirmative action on the grounds of unfair treatment. Some sided with Abigail, but all those who opposed her case said nothing about affirmative action as a means to increase fairness; their only claims stressed the importance of diversity in a university setting (Leonhardt 1). The Supreme Court