CARIBBEAN NATIONALS in the American Diaspora will welcome the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court upholding the principle of Affirmative Action. By the narrowest of margins (5 to 4) the United States Supreme Court has ruled that race can be taken into account in deciding on who gets admitted to American colleges; but at the same time it struck down a point system at the University of Michigan, which in its undergraduate college, gave minorities a 20-point advantage. The point system was judged to be a thinly disguised quota system, previously found to be unconstitutional, but can easily be modified to comply with the new guidelines announced by the Court.
Overall, the Supreme Court decision is seen by liberal Americans as a victory for Affirmative Action and is a rebuff to the publicly held position of President George Bush that taking race into account violated the US Constitution. It demonstrates that, on balance, the judiciary in America is independent of the Executive branch and Presidential pressure.
The main justification put forward for taking race into account in deciding on admissions for limited places rested on the perceived need to encourage a diversified student body in which all races would be fairly represented and would be able to learn from interacting with each other. Opponents of this position argued that in many instances the interaction advantage was thwarted by black students who insist in setting up their own clubs and campus organisations which exclude whites.
The Supreme Court judgement, written by Sandra Day O'Connor, its first female judge, upholds the principle of Affirmative Action as a benefit to the American educational system and an overriding good for the social and cultural progress of the United States. The decision applies only to admissions at public, tax-supported universities but it will allow other private tertiary institutions to follow suit. It will also have far-reaching implications for the hiring practices of private sector companies which benefit from government contracts and therefore must comply with Federal government guidelines.
Already a substantial number of Jamaicans are being accepted at prestigious American High Schools and Universities which give preference to foreign minority students and there will be general relief that the Supreme Court ruling does not put an end to this.
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