California V. Bakke Case Summary

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The next challenge to Affirmative Action programs in higher education sets the precedent for future cases moving forward to the 21st century. The Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1974) involved a white Anglo male, Allan Bakke, and the University of California, Davis Medical School (UCDMS). The plaintiff, already obtained a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, was denied admission to UCDMS. Bakke claimed that the university’s special admission minority program had reduced the number of places for which he could compete (Moreno, 2003, p. 17). During this time, many higher education institutions began using quota systems as a means to increase the number of students of color in their campus (Smallwood, 2015, p. 2). According …show more content…

17). It was then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1978, which reached a judgment despite the justices being divided on the issue. The final vote from Justice William Powell decidedly ruled in favor of the plaintiff and it was determined that remediating discrimination was not sufficient justification for considering race in admission (Reed, 2013, p. 342). According to O’Neill (1987), Justice Powell condoned race-consciousness, but he was also adamantly against universities using rigid numerical formulas to benefit diversity (as cited in Moreno, 2003, p. 17). Justice Powell used Harvard University as a positive example of how diversity consciousness could be applied to the admissions process without having to rely on fixed numbers. Kolling (1998) explained that Harvard’s admissions policy is such that race or ethnic background is considered a plus factor, so long as it did not exempt the applicant from being compared with other candidates for admission (as cited in Moreno, 2003, p. 17). Race and ethnic background only served as an advantage, not as criteria to secure a spot. Because the justices were split on this issue, the case and its ruling would pose difficulties for institutions to find constitutional admissions criteria, but will later prove to be the context by which cases concerning race-based programs are evaluated (Smallwood, 2015, p.

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