Affirmative Action in Postsecondary Educational Settings: The Historic Nexus of Meritocracy and Access in US Higher Educ
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Affirmative Action in Postsecondary Educational Settings: The Historic Nexus of Meritocracy and Access in US Higher Education Eboni M. Zamania and M. Christopher Brown IIb a
Department of Leadership and Counseling, Eastern Michigan University, 304 Pocter Building, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, USA. E-mail: [email protected] b Department of Educational Policy Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, 400 Rackley Building, University Park, PA 16802-3201, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Access to American colleges and universities remains one of the most important issues in education. Current research and policy address the concepts of diversity, participation, and achievement in postsecondary settings. Affirmative action has become a flashpoint in this context and investigations. This article examines the intersection of this policy/practice with educational attainment based on meritorious achievement. The article also highlights the confluence of affirmative action and educational mobility for graduating high school students. The aims of this article is three-fold: (1) to frame conceptions of diversity from a historical perspective; (2) to address diversity in relation to educational, social, and economic mobility of a multi-ethnic student populace; and (3) to determine the relation between how students transition from high school to college. Higher Education Policy (2003) 16, 27–38. doi:10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300004 Keywords: affirmative action; educational opportunity; meritocracy; equality; access; policy
Background Judicial and legislative actions (e.g. Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and American with Disabilities Act) prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race/ethnicity, national origin, gender, and disability were enacted as American postsecondary institutions were traditionally homogenous and lacked diversity relative to its participants. While access to American colleges and universities was historically reserved for white middle-class males, in 1965 Executive Order 11246 ratified affirmative action, which has since developed into one of the perennial debates of contemporary times. At the core of the debate remains the age-old question of who should have access to college. Over time, the lack of consensus regarding affirmative action has spanned from whether higher learning should be
Eboni M. Zamani and M. Christopher Brown II The Historic Nexus of Meritocracy and Access
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available to the sons of non-landowners during colonial times, to the merits of educating women and freed slaves, as well as centering on immigrants, international students, and those from poverty-stricken families. At present, the discourse is squarely centered on how to best affirm diversity and encourage greater participation among underrepresented collegiate populations in lieu of divergent opinions about affirmative action. Affirmative action is a government policy that seeks to remedy longstanding discrimination directed against specific racial/ethnic minorities and women. To th
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