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High
Court Considers Race Card in Student Admissions |
Posted:
10.23.06
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The Supreme Court is revisiting the issue of whether schools
should be able to consider race in enrollment - and the decisions
could affect millions of students.
Printer-friendly version: PDF
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 The
Supreme Court ruled "separate educational facilities are
inherently unequal" in 1954, ending racial segregation in
public schools. In the aftermath, schools struggled to adhere
to the court's decision and define the government's role in desegregation.
The court will revisit the issue of race in public school enrollment
this December as they hear two court cases, one from Seattle and
the other from around Louisville, Ky.
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Using race
in enrollment |
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The cases hail from different areas of the country, but in both
cities, school officials are trying to mirror diversity in their
communities by considering race when making school assignments.
Jefferson County School System (JCSS) in Louisville serves an
estimated 35-38 percent minority student population and hopes
to keep a range of 15-50 percent black students at each school.
Parents can choose which school they wish their child to attend,
and racial balance at the school is one of several factors the
district uses when making place assignments, says Pat Todd, executive
director of student assignment for the JCSS.
 The
Seattle Public School System (SPSS) utilized a racial tie-breaker
until 2000, when it decided to suspend the method after the lawsuit
was filed. Parents could select their children's schools, and
race was the tiebreaker used, after the presence of siblings,
if a school was "oversubscribed."
Harry Korrell, attorney for the plaintiffs in the Seattle case,
claims that the system violates the rights of some students and
doesn't even effectively diversify the classrooms.
But Gary Ikeda, general counsel for SPSS, said classrooms are
less diverse. With the racial tiebreaker, the entering freshman
class at the popular Ballard High School in 2000 was 54.2 percent
non-white; without the tiebreaker the class would have been 33
percent nonwhite
The student population on a whole is 60 percent nonwhite and
40 percent white.
The decision in this case will affect approximately 47 million
students in this country, said Sharon Browne, attorney with the
Pacific Legal Foundation.
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Arguments
for and against |
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The legal factors are many: the plaintiffs will argue that the
use of race is a violation of the equal protection clause of the
14th Amendment. That clause says that "no state shall…
deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection
of the laws" - in effect that all people must be treated
equal under the law.
In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled on two similar cases from the
University of Michigan, declaring that the use of race in admissions
must be narrowly tailored and must exist to correct a past wrong.
Opponents of such programs argue that they are not narrowly tailored
and that school districts are attempting to combat segregated
housing patterns with such programs.
 Korrell
says earlier Supreme Court decisions ruled that "overcoming
effects of general societal discrimination is not a compelling
interest to justify a racial classification."
"It is then unconstitutional to use race to overcome the
purely voluntary choices of parents about where to send their
kids to school."
Others argue that this case is about what role communities can
play in shaping themselves.
"It really goes toward the ability of communities to make
decisions about the face of their schools and diversity within
them," Ikeda said.
Former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor held the swing vote in the
case that narrowly upheld UM's law school admissions policies.
Justice Samuel Alito, who has a conservative record when it comes
to race issues, took her seat, leaving some to speculate whether
the Supreme Court would uphold its 2003 ruling.
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A color-blind
society? |
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And legal aspects aside, the usefulness of such programs is hotly
contested, as communities question when and if societies can ever
truly be colorblind
Raoul Cunningham, president of the Louisville chapter of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, supports
Jefferson County's program.
 "It
has a positive effect on all students," Cunningham said.
"They all receive a better academic education and a better
appreciation of political and cultural surroundings."
Sam Corbett, former school board member for Jefferson County,
said the plan enabled his children to attend more diverse schools
and function better in society.
"For me, it was important that my kids be exposed to [racial
and socioeconomic diversity] because that's the world we're living
in and the world we're surviving in," Corbett said.
Without such a program, "schools would re-segregate,"
said Cunningham. "Our housing patterns would not support
an integrated school system."
Others disagree.
"We will never return to the 1950s," said Honi Goldman,
a public relations representative for the attorney in the Louisville
case.
"We may choose to live in a housing pattern with people
that are familiar to us, but we will certainly never regulate
by law such housing patterns, such a code of conduct that separates
people."
--By
Stephanie Taylor, NewsHour Extra
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Like many Californians, I live in a town where teenagers drive to school in gas-guzzling SUVs and pick-up trucks just because they want to look powerful and extravagant.
