Write a brief paper that addresses the prompts below (350–500 words).
• Considering both sections 4.6 and 5.5 of Kaplin and Lee, postulate whether each currently proposed part of the university’s affirmative action plan is legal.
• Offer additional legal steps the university may want to consider to improve diversity.
Overview
In this assignment, you will write a brief paper (350–500 words) concerning an affirmative action situation at Anonymous University (AU).
AU is a small private university that has an established history of past racial discrimination. The current faculty has a minimal number of racial minorities, but
the ratio of minority students (15%) is equivalent to its percentage of minority faculty members (12%). To attract more minority students and foster a
culturally and ethnically diverse faculty, which it believes will benefit all students, the university has implemented a remedial affirmative action plan using race
as a “plus factor” in considering minority applicants. It has also established a minority doctorate assistance program under which the university agrees to pay
for a current or prospective minority faculty member’s doctorate tuition in exchange for agreeing to teach at the university for a set number of years. It is now
considering implementing an additional requirement that all departments have at least one minority faculty member, and those departments without a
minority member may not hire any new faculty members until they meet the requirement.
Some tenured faculty senate members see the hiring requirement as the “last straw.” In a meeting with the Provost, they explained that when the affirmative
action plan was adopted, they had questions regarding its legality and necessity. If this new hiring proposal is adopted, they feel confident that a non-minority
applicant will bring a lawsuit for reverse discrimination. Additionally, while they understand that all students benefit from having a minority professor, they
feel that as long as the ratios of minority students and faculty members are close, department chairs should be free to hire the best-qualified faculty,
regardless of race. They also fear that some students and faculty members will question the qualifications of minority faculty members employed under the
plan.
