Running head: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION & CORE DEMOCRATIC VALUES 1

Affirmative Action and Core Democratic Values

Laura Mauck

HIS 311

March 2, 2015
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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are

endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and

the pursuit of Happiness (U.S., 1776). This quote, written by Thomas Jefferson over 200 years

ago, is still the backbone of American society. At the time of its writing it did have a different

meaning. The phrase all men are created equal in 1776 only included white males who owned

property. Our country has evolved into that statement becoming more encompassing of all

individuals from those of different races and to both sexes. Amendments were made to the

United States Constitution to give the right to vote to different races and then to both sexes but

this was just the beginning. Affirmative action has a major role to play to help ensure that

minorities can finally achieve real equality. One of the only aspects of affirmative action that

could be perceived as negative, is having quotas. This is the first thought that comes to mind

when many people think of affirmative action, but this form is illegal. So the first issue I want to

address is how affirmative action works without quotas. Then we can address how affirmative

action aligns with many of the Core Democratic values. I will focus on how it helps the Common

good and how it ensures Diversity, Equality, and Liberty. Michigans ban of the use of

affirmative action in public universities goes directly against these Core Democratic values.

Affirmative action is a term that can be difficult to define. There has been controversy

surrounding both the definition and how to achieve its goals. In order to see affirmative action in

a positive light we must shun any aspect that would convey quotas as this type of affirmative

action is illegal in the United States. There are two main areas in which affirmative action is

used; education and employment. Affirmative action occurs when a school or an employer puts

in place action plans which will ensure that people who belong in minority groups have an equal

opportunity and are treated fairly without discrimination. The first time the term affirmative
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action was used was by President John Kennedy. He called for federal contractors to use

affirmative action to ensure that [job] applicants are treated equally without regard to race,

color, religion, sex, or national origin (Affirmative Action, 2015). It was during the late 1960s

and early 1970s when educational institutions would use racial quotas that would ensure a certain

number of minority students. In 1978, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the use of

these quotas was illegal, but still supported the use of affirmative action. In 2003, the Supreme

Court ruled that a university could consider an applicants race during the admissions process but

could not give advantages to every minority applicant (Affirmative Action, 2015). Employers

and educational institutions must come up with Affirmative Action Plans that are more than just

quotas.

VenderNet systems (n.d) provided some sample goals that can be incorporated in an

Affirmative Action Plan:

Reviewing job descriptions to ensure that they reflect actual job duties with

reasonable work-related requirements for employment.

Restructuring jobs, where possible, to encourage appointing trainees.

Broadening recruitment notices to include community organizations likely to refer

women, minorities and individuals with disabilities.

Advertising position vacancies in minority media.

Developing interview teams for all positions using only job-related questions.

Implementing an exit interview program or an employee assistance program.

Developing work schedules where feasible which include part-time employment

opportunities to encourage the employment of persons for whom full-time

employment is difficult.
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Each of these goals do well to help bring in minorities to an employer and some could be

reworded to go well when being applied to educational institutions. Many of these are not only

useful for helping minorities, but are rules that help all people, such as the task of ensuring job

interviews only involve questions about job related questions. Overall this is beneficial for the

common good of the entire country.

The common good is often overlooked by society today as many people are concerned

with just themselves or their family. Affirmative action is often misunderstood on how it benefits

society. The main benefactors of affirmative action may be those from minority groups, but if

they succeed then this makes society better as a whole. Wicks-Lim (2014) points out how

affirmative action is useful to fight against racial stereotypes. The highly publicized murders of

African American teens Trayvon Martin in 2011, Jordan Davis in 2013, and Michael Brown in

2014 have showcased how strong racism is still present in our nation. There are numerous

stereotypes that African Americans have to overcome. The Pew Research Center audited

mainstream news outlets in 2011 for their representation of black men and boys; less than four

percent showed an African American participating in something other than sports or crime. New

psychological research shows that in order to fight off these frequent exposures to stereotypes,

there is a need for positive associations. Affirmative action helps this by placing minorities in

positive alternatives (Wicks-Lim, 2014). Michigan has strong reasons for why affirmative action

should be used because it helps ensure diversity in its leaders. If the leaders who create the

political agenda and influence public opinion stay unvaryingly white, the common good is

cheated because it isn't truly common (Fullinwinder, 2014). Chomsky (2014) said, Concern for

the common good should impel us to find ways to cultivate human development in its richest

diversity.
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The Michigan Department of Education (n.d.) defines diversity in the list of Core

Democratic Values as, Variety in culture and ethnic background, race, lifestyle, and belief is not

only permissible but desirable and beneficial in a pluralist society. Affirmative action and

diversity go so well together that there are some who even confuse the two as the same. Stony

Brook University (n.d.) points out four differences between the two: motivation, targeted groups,

bringing people in, and desired results. They tell how the motivation behind affirmative action is

driven by laws with roots tied to the Civil Rights Act. Managing diversity is motivated by

strategies and looks to benefit an organization. The targeted groups for affirmative action is

minority groups who have had disadvantages in the past while diversity is all encompassing.

Stony Brook believes that affirmative action brings people in through assimilation while

diversity uses synergy. They also say how the desired results behind affirmative action are

number related while diversity looks to change the organizational culture. Affirmative action is

the building block behind each of these steps to help achieve diversity. Affirmative action may

be driven by law, but it gives the benefits of diversity to the organization or education institution.

The targeted groups of affirmative action may be those of minorities, but they are the ones who

need the help to ensure diversity. Without affirmative action's assurance to employing and

promoting diverse workers, businesses would seldom have the diversity of staff to get to the

point where differences are appreciated and diversity is successfully overseen. Numbers alone

can point out how less diverse the colleges in Michigan have become since affirmative action

was no longer allowed to be used in educational institutions.

Kidders (2013) research showcased:

In University of Michigan Class of 2012 only 4.4% of those who earned Bachelors

degrees were African American. This was the lowest percentage since 1991. For Masters
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degrees the total was 5.1% which was the lowest since 1989. Doctoral degrees had an

African American percentage of 3.3% the lowest since 1993. Professional school degrees

were 3.5%, the lowest since the mid-1970s. Law school degrees were the worst with only

2.9% and 2.7% in 2011 which was the lowest percentage since 1969.

Prior to Proposal 2 the University of Michigan had been the number one ranked elite university

in the U.S. in terms of the number of African American Ph.D. graduates in STEM fields

(Kidder, 2013). Yet we have only touched upon the racial aspect of diversity; gender plays a

very important role as well. The large corporation Microsoft recently told of new pushes towards

increasing diversity in their workforce. Microsoft Corporations CEO Satya Nadella made a

comment on how women should not ask for pay raises. He quickly publically apologized for that

statement (Stampler, 2014). He sent out an internal memo apologizing again about the statement

and called for improvements in its staffing in three areas: ensuring equal pay, employing more

diverse talent, and training workers to help make diversity more widespread (Hu, 2014). This

showcases how important this issue is for women as well. The drive for diversity goes hand in

hand with the drive for equality.

The strongest arguments against affirmative action generally occurs when it comes to the

discussion of equality. Some claim that in order for us to have a color-blind society we must

have color-blind policies. This initially makes a lot of sense but one can quickly see how

minorities would be put at a disadvantage. In the workforce, if everyone is equal, when job

layoffs occur then it comes down to seniority; most senior employees are white. When it comes

to college-admissions White students tend to have had earlier educational advantages (Plous,

2003). African Americans tend to live in more urban settings which have lower education scores.

Another argument says that affirmative action may have been needed in the past, but life now is
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fairly equal. There has been much progress, but we are all still far from being equal. Women

only make 77 cents to every dollar a male makes. African Americans have twice the

unemployment rate and rate of infant mortality of white Americans. If affirmative action was

removed from many selective schools, then the percentage of African American students would

drop to only 2% of the student body (Plous, 2003). The Equal Protection Clause is what the

Supreme Court focuses on when making decisions on affirmative action issues. No state shall

make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the

United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due

process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws

(U.S., 1868). When Michigan passed Proposal 2 in 2006, it removed affirmative action in public

education, public employment or public contracting. This has created two separate processes

through which a Michigan citizen is allowed to affect the admissions guidelines of the States

universities: one, for persons interested in race-sensitive admissions guidelines, and one for

everyone else. The Constitution does not ensure victory for minorities in the political process,

but it does guarantee that the majority may not place obstacles that make it difficult for

minorities to win. Race-neutral admissions is that obstacle that has proven to not be able to fairly

accomplish educational diversity. These difficulties make it challenging for minorities to have

full access to what we know as liberty.

Give me liberty or give me death, is such a famous quote from Patrick Henry yet some

people today stumble over the meaning of liberty. Freedom and liberty sound as though they

mean the same thing but they are different. Freedom is being able to do things without

interference. Liberty is freedom that has been permitted from a ruling power. Liberty and
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freedom go hand in hand, and it is the governments job to ensure that liberty is given to its

citizens.

The Michigan Department of Education (n.d.) describes liberty in three ways:

Personal freedom: the private realm in which the individual is free to act, to think and to

believe, and which the government cannot legitimately invade

Political freedom: the right to participate freely in the political process, choose and

remove public officials, and to be governed under a rule of law, the right to a free flow of

information and ideas; open debate and right of assembly

Economic freedom: the right to acquire, use, transfer and dispose of private property

without unreasonable governmental interference; the right to seek employment wherever

one pleases; to change employment at will; and to engage in any lawful economic

activity.

The history of discrimination that has occurred in the United States is something that still

continues to affect minorities liberty. All of these freedoms attributed to liberty were at one time

fully restricted to white males. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was only a little over 50

years ago and many people are still alive today who lived through it. African Americans were the

first to push for their civil rights but women soon followed and homosexuals are still fighting

today. The rights revolution of the 1960s changed the landscape and the language of American

politics (Reynolds, p. 336, 2009). With this being in such a recent time, it would simply be out

of the question to think that discrimination does not play a role in society today. There are still

people living who resent these actions. Affirmative action is needed to help fight against this

discrimination so that liberty can be ensured for the minorities.

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A state like Michigan has strong reasons for wanting its leaders of commercial,

financial, legal, cultural, and educational institutions to reflect to some practical degree the racial

and ethnic variety of its population (Fullinwinder, 2014). Affirmative action is key ensuring the

core democratic values of the common good, diversity, equality, and liberty. Michigans actions

of passing Proposal 2 goes directly against these core democratic values. This law is a turn in the

wrong direction and we must learn from the past so it is not repeated. There will come a time

when affirmative action is no longer needed but that is not today. The common good benefits

from the diversity, equality, and liberty that affirmative action provides to minorities. Make your

voice heard if you agree and call up your representative if you believe Michigans Proposal 2

should be appealed. Word Count: 2,326

References
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Affirmative Action (2015) Retrieved from http://labor-employment-

law.lawyers.com/employment-discrimination/affirmative-action.html

Chomsky, N. (Jan, 2014). What is the Common Good? Retrieved from http://www.truth-

out.org/opinion/item/21070-noam-chomsky-what-is-the-common-good

Fullinwinder, R. (2014). Affirmative Action. In E. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of

Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/affirmative-action/

Hu, D. (Oct 17, 2014). Microsoft CEO Makes New Diversity Push After Women Gaffe.

Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-10-17/microsoft-ceo-

makes-new-diversity-push-after-women-gaffe

Justice Sotomayor & Justice Ginsberg (2014) Schuette v. Coal. Defend Affirmative Action,

Integration & Immigration Rights. Retrieved from

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/572/12-682/dissent7.html

Kidder, W. (Aug, 2013). Restructuring Higher Education Opportunity? : African American

Degree Attainment after Michigan's Ban on Affirmative Action. Retrieved from

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2318523

Michigan Department of Education (n.d.). Our Core Democratic Values. Retrieved from

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/10-02_Core_democtaric_Values_48832_7.pdf

National Conference of State Legislatures (Feb, 2014). Affirmative Action Overview. Retrieved

from http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/affirmative-action-overview.aspx
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Plous, S. (2003). Racism Now. In S. Plous (Ed.), Understanding Prejudice and Discrimination

(Vol. 52, pp. 206-212). Retrieved from

http://www.understandingprejudice.org/readroom/articles/affirm.htm

Reynolds, D (2009) America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States. New

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Stampler, L (Oct 9, 2014) Microsofts CEO Tells Women its Bad Karma to Ask for a Raise.

Retrieved from http://time.com/3486673/microsofts-ceo-satya-nadella-women-work-

gender-pay-gap/

Stony Brooke University (n.d.) Diversity and Affirmative Action: Difference. Retrieved from

http://www.stonybrook.edu/diversity/aboutus/difference.html

VendorNet Systems (n.d.). Affirmative Action Goals. Retrieved from

http://vendornet.state.wi.us/vendornet/contract/goals.asp

Wicks-Lim, J (Dec, 2014). Why we all Need Affirmative Action. Retrieved from

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/12/01/why-we-all-need-affirmative-action