Category: 2016

In recent years, the debate of affirmative action has reached its climax of conflict during the Supreme Court case Fisher v. University of Texas-Austin. The court case began in 2008 after Abigail Fisher was denied by the University of Texas. She sued UT, claiming that the college discriminated against her because she is white, and was in violation with the equal protection clause.

In a 4-3 ruling, the Court decided on Thursday to uphold UT’s affirmative action admissions plan, declaring that the university’s program taking race into consideration is constitutional.

In Texas, all high school students who graduated in the top 10% of their class are granted instant admission into the public university they choose. But, UT also considers various other factors such as race into their admissions process.

Fisher applied with other applicants, many of whom are racial minorities that had racial preference, and she was denied.

Fisher’s lawyers claim in court papers that UT had already established a race-neutral program, and the school shouldn’t have added another plan on top of that. Fisher, rather than asking the court to ban all affirmative action programs, only requested revision of the Texas plan.

Lawyers for UT stated that the Top Ten Percent plan was not sufficient to achieve racial diversity. They claimed that their admissions program at UT evaluated each candidate as a whole, and race was simply a factor.

Racial diversity on college campuses has been under scrutiny ever since the original fight for desegregation of American schools began in the American Civil Rights Movement. The issue lives on today in the American school system.

The problem that many racial minorities face in the school system today is racial profiling that many argue grant them less opportunity than white students to receive higher education. To counteract this discrimination, colleges have implemented affirmative action, which according to Walter Feinberg, is “intended to end and correct the effects of a specific form of discrimination”.

The use of affirmative action has been both praised for its ability to offer racial minorities greater chances at higher education that their ancestors never got, as well as criticized for reasons such as the questionability of its constitutionality.

Aiyanna Egnew, rising junior, said,” racial diversity is important in all societies. If you aren’t in a diverse society, you can be exposed to bigoted views”. According to U.S. Department of Commerce, over the past 10 years, diversity on college campuses has been on a slow but steady increase.

Kaela Goss, rising high school junior, said,”Diversity is important, affirmative action is important, not an end solution, but good for now”.

Affirmative action also arises the question: is it the end solution? Justice Anthony Kennedy stated in the majority opinion that since UT’s policy is specific to their admissions program, if change is needed upon reflection in later years, policies will be revised and updated to fit the times.

Goss commented that affirmative action is “leveling the playing field” for now, but not means to an end; more of a step in the right direction.

The latest aspect of affirmative action that makes the issue such a controversial topic is the question of whether or not college admissions should be colorblind. The argument for colorblind admissions stems from the ideal that all students should be judged primarily on merit and scholarly achievements, and that race shouldn’t matter. Should college applications have race boxes? Yasmin Celin Hakeem, rising senior, commented that there should be no race box and that,” sometimes they accept people just to fill a quota, it should be anonymous”. She also stated that,” for mixed kids, sometimes they don’t have a box, and they are forced to identify with something they aren’t”.

Hakeem also said, when questioned whether colleges should acknowledge the racial disparity that is found in many U.S. colleges,” if we don’t ever acknowledge the problem, we won’t acknowledge the solution”.

Whether the end solution is affirmative action, she does not know, but it is a step towards a more diverse campus.

WASHINGTON- The Brock Turner case was just the beginning. When the Stanford swimmer was sentenced six months in a federal prison for raping an unconscious woman on Thursday, June 2, millions of people were outraged. “It’s disgusting. It really shows how important it is that more people are educated about [sexual assault],” said Julienne DeVita, a graphics major at American University.

It’s not just the Stanford case. Sexual assault cases have been a nationwide problem for decades. According a Bureau of Justice Statistics survey titled “Rape and Sexual Assault Among College- Age Females, 1995-2013,” the highest rate of surveyed sexual assault cases per 1,000 female students and non students ages 18-24 existed in the early 2000s. 

While the rate of sexual assault cases was higher for non students 76.4% of the time, the difference was 0.1 between students and non students in 2013. Even with the 0.1 in 2013, colleges are trying to provide more services to help victims of sexual assault.

Figure 1: Rate of Rape Cases Between Female Students and Non Students Ages 18-24 from 1997-2013 (Courtesy of the Bureau of Justice Statistics) http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsavcaf9513.pdf

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At American University, programs such the Office of Advocacy Services for Interpersonal and Sexual Violence (OASIS) have been designed to spread awareness about sexual assault, as well as to provide services to help victims of this nationwide epidemic. “I think that they’re [organizations for sexual assault victims] are advertised on campus, especially in the bathrooms,” DeVita said.

The OASIS bathroom initiative consisted of placing signs on the back of stalls in every women’s bathroom on campus. Each sign reads, “Sexual Violence is never the survivor’s fault!” Besides this slogan, the sign explains actions and support services for victims of sexual assault. Such resources include the American University Counseling Center, the Washington Hospital’s center DC SANE center, and the DC Sexual Assault Hotline.

Even with programs like OASIS, sexual assault still exists on campus. While DeVita did not have a personal experience with sexual assault, she acknowledged the existence of a rape culture. “It’s hard to stop because it’s under the radar. Victims should be treated with respect because when you’re put in that situation you don’t know how to act,” DeVita said.

A horror story in two words: mass shootings. According to CNN, since June 21st, we have seen 136 mass shootings and the number is rising. Following 4 unsuccessful attempts to pass gun control amendments and the Orlando shooting, members of the Democratic Party protested. A sit-in by Democrats on the House floor lasted 25 hours, and it was to bring attention to the lack of efforts made by Republicans about gun control laws.

In a poll provided by CNN, 78% of Democrats voted in support of tougher gun control laws while 29% of Republicans were in favor of stricter gun control restrictions. These numbers were released on June 20th following the Orlando, Fla. shooting; which caused an increase in the percentage of people in support of stricter gun control laws in both parties, according to an article by CNN.

Backing up and looking at the bigger picture, Mother Jones, a nonprofit news organization, compiled a list of mass shootings from 1982-2016, not including gang related shootings or robberies. According to their data, 79% of those weapons were obtained legally. Looking at the 20 mass shootings cases with the greatest casualties, half of the weapons were acquire legally.

The most recent case, the Orlando, Fla., shooting, had the highest casualties in history. The legally-bought weapons used by the shooter were used to kill 49 people; after this incident, the Democrats were in agreement that this was the last straw, and many Americans are with them.

“The recent pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando and the apprehension of a heavily armed suspect in LA during the pride parade made me feel especially unsafe in terms of identifying as bisexual,” student Abigail Keith said. “I believe the sit-in, regardless of the immediate effects on congressional actions being so insignificant was a very good idea.  It’s encouraging for those of us who want gun control yet feel that our government is doing nothing to reach the goal.”

The sit-in was led by Rep. John Lewis, followed by 170 lawmakers. Just outside, citizens gathered around and protested along with them. Twitter and Instagram was filled with videos, photos, and tweets of people either in support or opposed to the sit-in. Chants like “No Bill, No Break” and “ Shame, Shame, Shame” also circulated in the House. Everyone from the people in the House to the citizens were voicing their opinion about the protest through social media.

We got in trouble. We got in the way. Good trouble. Necessary Trouble. By sitting-in, we were really standing up. #NoBillNoBreak

— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) June 23, 2016

Rep. @repjimclyburn, Rep. @repjohnlewis, Minority Leader @Nancypelosi and other Democrats sing “We Shall Overcome” in front of activists who have been supporting them through the night during the sit-in to push for a gun control vote on June 23. 📷: @johnshinkle #politics #sitin #democrats #congress #guncontrol #policy #nancypelosi #johnlewis #housedemocrats #dc #washingtondc #washington

A photo posted by POLITICO (@politico) on Jun 23, 2016 at 11:15am PDT

However, the Democrats did not get the ideal outcome they wanted; there was no “promise” from the Republicans that they would make changes to gun control restrictions. Speaker Paul D. Ryan called it a “publicity stunt” though Democrats still consider this a win. According to CNN, Lewis addressed the situation outside on the Capitol steps, after the sit-in ended.

“We are going to win. The fight is not over…we’re going to push, to pull, to stand up, and if necessary, to sit down,” Lewis said. “So don’t give up, don’t give in. Keep the faith, and keep your eyes on the prize.”