A Study Of Affirmative Action Evolution In Higher Education In The United States

This thesis is a foreign study on affirmative action in higher education in the United States. The purpose of this study is to(a) examine the background and concept of affirmative action in higher education,(b) investigate the influence of six famous affirmative action lawsuits on ethnic minority students’ education,(c) identify the concept of equity in education of affirmative action. It mainly consists of five parts.Part Ⅰ. Historical development of affirmative action in higher education in the United States. This section reviews the origin, expansion and forbidden nature of affirmative action, and reveals the factors that caused its growth, particularly focusing on ethnic minority history and ethnic minority students’ involvement in higher education.Part Ⅱ. Compensatory Justice of affirmative action in higher education in the United States. Based on the implementation of affirmative action in higher education, this part analyzes the first affirmative action lawsuits(De Funis v. Odegaard) at the University of Washington, and discuss the challenges and opportunities of affirmative action in the future.Part Ⅲ. Distributive justice of affirmative action in higher education in the United States. Through an analysis of two affirmative action lawsuits(University of California Regent’s v. Bakke; Hopwood v. State of Texas) that reached the Court, this section clarifies that affirmative action increases the number of ethnic minority students in campus, and examines the factors of reverse discrimination in college admissions.Part Ⅳ. Diversity of affirmative action in higher education in the United States. This part discusses the influence of three affirmative action lawsuits(Grutter v. Bollinger, Gratz v. Bollinger and Fisher v. University of Texas) on policy implementations. This section identifies the affirmative action’s importance of utilizing the flexible use of race as one factor among admissions consideration with durational limits; providing equitable educational opportunities for ethnic minority students, and confirms that student diversity is an educational benefit and compelling state interest.Part Ⅴ. Some thoughts on the development and reform of China’s affirmative action policies in higher education. This section first explains the role of affirmative action in achieving diversity, excellence, and equity in higher education in the United States, and then provides the implications of affirmative action between the United States and China.