An Affirmative Action Adventure
“This alliance, between a white conservative tactician and a comparatively inexperienced base of recently energized Asian-American activists, has complicated the traditional optics of the civil-rights and diversity debates.” Who was affirmative action created for? And who should it benefit now? Those questions are increasingly up for debate as a lawsuit against Harvard threatens the future of the program. Hua Hsu in The New Yorker with a very interesting look at The Rise and Fall of Affirmative Action. A key affirmative action figure in the case is a conservative activist/lawyer named Edward Blum. “If Blum’s suit is successful, the effect will be felt far beyond Harvard. It will limit the freedom that academic institutions have often had in pursuing their unique educational missions. The lawsuit, and Blum’s efforts to change the cultural conversation surrounding diversity and discrimination, could end affirmative action in higher education as we know it.”