Literature Review Blog #4

Casting Shadows: Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin and the Misplaced Fear of "Too Much" Diversity

This article is written by Susannah W. Pollvogt, she is an adjunct Professor and Bar exam consultant at University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. She was a staff attorney at Vermont Supreme court. In this article she talks about the current case of Fisher versus University of Texas. In this case the undergraduate student Abigail Fisher in 2008, asks that the court either declare the admission policy of university inconsistent with or entirely overrule the affirmative action policy. The term affirmative action in this context means considering race as an important factor in college admissions.The supreme court still has to give the final verdict on this case. Susannah talks about the relationship between remedial and educational excellence justifications for race-conscious admission decisions/policies. Remedial excellence means to help improve the historical racism, universities implement affirmative action; whereas, educational excellence justification means that universities implement affirmative action for the educational e=benefit of the students. Furthermore, Susannah also talks about the anxiety of the justices in the 5 th circuit about the excessive racial diversity. She quotes Justice Powell, who was the decision maker during Bakke case involving University of Michigan Law school. He states, ". . .Thus, in arguing that its universities must be accorded the right to select those students who will contribute the most to the “robust exchange of ideas,” petitioner invokes a countervailing constitutional interest, that of the First Amendment. In this light, petitioner must be viewed as seeking to achieve a goal that is of paramount importance in the fulfillment of its mission" (page 5).  So, by this Justice Powell justified the state interest in the law of affirmative action. Moreover he also states, " Academic freedom, though not a specifically enumerated constitutional right, long has been viewed as a special concern of the First Amendment. The freedom of a university to make its own judgments as to education includes the selection of its student body" (page 5 ). This quote also allows makes it legitimate for the universities to use affirmative action policy. Susannah also states, " Under an educational excellence justification ,by contrast, we would assume that schools are free to continuously reassess their diversity needs and refine their admissions policies to achieve optimal student-body compositions. And schools should be permitted to include consideration of race in this analysis , so long as race still "matters" as a part of identity" ( page 11). The author supports the justification for affirmative action policies at colleges on basis of educational excellence. She thinks that the court should decide on a decision that is for all times to come, for our pluralistic society, which would foster vibrant intellectual environment. This article relates to my topic because it talks about a case which is one of the challenges faced by a diverse student environment/policies at college campuses. This helps me to explore my research question to a greater extent, because while mentioning the Fisher case, it also talks about the importance of affirmative action policy in maintaining academic excellence in colleges. So it gives me another "so what" question, which is ; Does the benefits of racial diversity at college campuses overshadow/overrule it's side effects?

Pollvogt, Susannah. Casting Shadows: Fisher V. University of Texas at Austin and the Misplaced fear of " Too Much" Diversity. Diss. University of Maryland School of Law, 2013. Web. <http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/endnotes/23/>.