Institute for the Study of Societal Issues

In this paper, I focus on three cases of admissions processes that are particularly crucial to equality of opportunity in higher education: undergraduate school, medical school, and law school. In each case, I present data from California, where affirmative action was eliminated for University of California (UC) professional and graduate schools on January 1, 1997 and is scheduled for elimination for all UC undergraduate who enter in spring of 1998 and thereafter. Where possible, I supplement evidence from California with national data. The questions upon which I focus are the following: what will be the impact of the abolition of race-conscious policies on the composition of the student body? Are class-conscious policies effective substitutes for race-conscious policies in attaining the goals of racial diversity and inclusiveness?

Based on a review of both California and national data, I reach two

conclusions: 1) color-blindness policies are likely to lead to a substantial resegregation of American higher education; 2) class-conscious policies are likely to prove insufficient to prevent such resegregation. In the paper’s concluding section, I briefly discuss the politics of the contemporary battle over affirmative action. The ultimate outcome of the escalating national battle over affirmative action, I argue, remains very uncertain. Paradoxically, the very success of foes of affirmative action in two key states-- California and Texas-- may end up strengthening the hand of those who favor race-conscious policies, for the actual consequences of the new regime of “colorblindness” are already becoming visible. Since these consequences include a major reversal of the limited, but nevertheless real, progress towards a more racially and ethnically inclusive system of higher education that has taken place over the past thirty years, the national debate over affirmative action, I suggest, may be poised to turn away from abstract principles such as “individual fairness” and “colorblindness” and toward the concrete world of practical consequences and hard political choices. In this more grounded debate, the advocates of affirmative action may be able, if they make their case forcefully, to turn back the conservative assault on race-conscious policies.

Note: This paper was originally published as a working paper in 1997 by the Institute for the Study of Social Change, which later became the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues.