Greetings!
On October 10, 2012 the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the landmark case of Fisher V. University of Texas challenging the use of racial/ethnic preferences in college admissions. I recently had the opportunity to attend a forum with the discussion topic: “Will Affirmative Action in College Admissions Survive?” It was interesting to be revisiting this issue in 2012, given the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings, including most recently 2003. The forum featured a very knowledgeable group of debaters:
- Ward Connerly, American Civil Rights Institute
- Lani Guinier, Harvard Law School
- Richard D. Kahlenberg, The Century Foundation
- Richard Sander, University of California Los Angeles School of Law
- Sam Fulwood III, Center for American Progress
What was the conclusion? Several of the panelists concluded that “Fisher” will prevail, and of course Ward Connerly felt that there should be an end to affirmative action based on race. Others believe not only should we have affirmative action, but that it should be based on race and socio-economic status. Lani Guinier views affirmative action as a valuable social barometer, as discussed in “The Miner’s Canary” her work with Gerald Torres. (See review below.)
About The Miner’s Canary
by Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres, Harvard Press 2002
Like the canary’s distress, which alerted miners to poison in the air, issues of race point to conditions in American society that endanger us all. In this pioneering new book, Guinier and Torres warn us that we ignore race at our peril, and propose a dramatic, hopeful shift in the way we think about race and put it to political use.
Ignoring racial differences – color blindness – has failed, they argue. Race and power intertwine at every level of social interaction, from classrooms to courtrooms to congressional districts. Only cross-racial coalitions can expose these embedded hierarchies of privilege and – through innovative power sharing and democratic engagement – demolish them. Guinier and Torres call this concept of enlisting race to resist power political race. The methodology of political race has policy implications for affirmative action, racial profiling, criminal justice, access to educational opportunity, voting and democracy. It is a methodology for diagnosing systemic injustice and then organizing to resist it.
Political race confronts the social and economic consequences of race in a “third way,” that offers a multi-layered political strategy rather than a set of public policy of primarily legal solutions to issues of racial justice. Political race dramatically transforms the use of race from a signifier of individual culpability and prejudice to an early warning sign (“the canary in the mines”) of larger injustices. Political does not mean conventional electoral politics. It challenges social change thinkers and activists to rethink what it means to win and whether winning an election or a particular policy change is enough. Once you see the potential for change through collective action, you cannot look at things in the same way. Indeed, it can become a process of joyful struggle.
Publishers’ Weekly called the book, “one of the most provocative and challenging books on race produced in years.” Ian Henry-Lopez described the work as “a hymn of hope” for those who fear the future.
As educators, we must begin to take note of issues that have long term effect on higher education and particularly those impacting student affairs-services. I believe we cannot slow down our efforts in the U.S. to bring equity to our educational structure. My emphasis is on equity, and not simply equality and inclusion. Given that institutional racism stills exists, we as educators must continue to “ring the bell” for justice. As a society we have made much progress but the path to “equality and justice for all” is still long. I ask that each one of us take it upon ourselves to raise the difficult questions and strive to level the playing field. Our growing and sustainable democracy depends on it and so does ACPA!
Please feel free to share your thoughts with me.
Greg