In 1954, the United States Supreme Court made a historical
decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. Last week, the
Court helped preserve that ruling’s legacy.
The High Court’s unanimous Brown decision required
integration of public schools and declared that separate schools
for black and white children were inherently unequal. Brown sought
to ensure individuals were not kept from success because they
belonged to a certain race.
Brown banned racist policies, but nearly 50 years later the
United States’ education systems still suffer from de facto
segregation ““Â segregation that forestalls the country
from achieving true equality and prevents capable individuals from
reaching their full potential. Higher education ““Â still
more accessible for whites and many Asian Americans than for
blacks, Latinos and other minorities ““ is part of the
problem.
That is why last week’s Supreme Court ruling in the
University of Michigan case, preserving affirmative action in
college admissions, is such a crucial victory.
While Brown and subsequent actions provided equality under law
for the country’s racial minority groups, last week’s
ruling was still needed to reach equality of opportunity. The
decision opens doors for individuals from communities still facing
prejudice, if not legalized discrimination.
The Michigan ruling gives Brown teeth by allowing for mechanisms
that eliminate prejudices in education, the springboard to success
in society.
The majority opinion on the Michigan Law School case, written by
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, did not focus the importance of
diversity in education as an end in itself, but rather its role to
provide fairness in society as a whole.
“Participation by members of all racial and ethnic groups
… is essential if the dream of one nation, indivisible, is to be
realized,” O’Connor wrote.
The opinion cited “friend of the court” briefs from
Fortune 500 companies that expressed support for affirmative action
in higher education, so that the business world might one day be
more accessible to skilled individuals of color. O’Connor
also cited testimony from high-ranking military officers who told
of the importance of integrated officer corps.
It may seem contradictory that the court protected a
university’s right to consider race, but struck down the
University of Michigan’s undergraduate admissions policy.
But the rulings, in actuality, were not contradictory at all.
The Court, justified in protecting the concept of affirmative
action, was also right to oppose Michigan’s undergraduate
admissions point system, which did not consider applicants as
individuals and assigned bonus points for race in an artificial
way. The reason affirmative action is necessary is to ensure that
individuals are not prohibited from advancing in society because of
institutionalized prejudices. Therefore, a system that awards
points without individual consideration, is flawed and does not
keep with the spirit of Brown.
The Court’s ruling that race can be considered as one of
many factors ““ as part of an examination of an
applicant’s entire package ““Â is a victory for the
legacy of Brown and the advancement of civil rights.
Even if just for a brief moment, those students, professors,
administrators, business leaders and legal experts who fought over
the last few years to preserve equality of opportunity can now
breath a sigh of relief.