Recall the unified effort to wear black ribbons, the Grounds-wide "Reject Hatred" campaign and the fact that the University boasts the highest black student graduation rate of any public college or university in the country. Race relations at the University are a perennial issue, and efforts addressing diversity are constantly under public scrutiny. There is no time better than the first day of Black History Month to address this significant issue.
Minority Rights Coalition Chair Patrick Martinez said the University has made progressive strides concerning diversity.
"U.Va. is always making headlines about diversity," Martinez said. "They're really blazing a trail, which is a huge accomplishment, especially for a southern school."
Affirmative action, often in the headlines, is one of the most controversial tools used to create a diverse student body -- affirmative action.
According to University Law Prof. Kim Forde-Mazrui, director of the Center for the Study of Race and Law, affirmative action has several potential purposes, including creating positive minority role models among students and faculty and increasing the number of qualified professionals willing to work in underrepresented communities.
From a legal perspective, however, the aims of affirmative action must be carefully defined, Forde-Mazrui said.
"The Supreme Court essentially narrowed it down to two purposes: remedying past discrimination and seeking the benefits of diversity," Forde-Mazrui said.
Here at the University, Dean of Admissions John Blackburn said his office's goal is to create a talented, diverse student body. In order to achieve that objective, each student's application is reviewed holistically and individually.
"The fact that a student is black adds a plus," Blackburn said. "The student is at a bit of an advantage. But, if the student hasn't taken the right courses or made good grades," minority status alone will not ensure the student's admission.
Chief Diversity Officer William B. Harvey, said affirmative action exists to right the historical wrong of discrimination.
"What we have here is a set of social circumstances where people from different social backgrounds have been mistreated historically," Harvey said. "Affirmative action is a way to give them opportunities to be in the social mainstream."
Black Student Alliance President Tamara Dottin said the core purpose of affirmative action is to create a diverse community where students can learn from each other.
"The purpose of a higher-learning institution like U.Va. is to give an education that goes beyond the classroom," Dottin said. "It's up to the University to create a diverse student body so when interacting with peers, students are learning something new every time."
Aside from righting the historical wrong of discrimination, Martinez said affirmative action underscores the importance of diversity both inside and outside the classroom.
"It's interesting for someone to grow up in an upper-class family and converse [with a student who grew up] in a lower-class family, even in English class," Martinez said. "I feel diversity is worth so much more than finding a different viewpoint ... [it's] about respecting people at this point."
A diverse community, however, is not simply achieved by admitting students of different races. Many students think race is the sole criterion by which affirmative action is achieved. Blackburn said this is one of many misconceptions about the program.
He explained that the University also uses affirmative action to select students with various interests and skills. Currently, the Office of Admissions is trying to attract students with backgrounds in performing arts, math and science, which are departments that have seen drops in enrollment
Affirmative action also takes gender and socioeconomic status into consideration to create a community that is more representative of the general population.
"I think race should be a factor, but socioeconomic status is what affirmative action should be based off of," Asian Student Union President Patrick Lee said. "From what I've seen in classrooms, there's a bigger difference between the 'have-not' and 'have' students than minorities. If we resolve class differences first, then we can solve a lot more problems than race."
Forde-Mazrui, however, pointed out that if the goal of affirmative action is to right past wrongs, then the program may merit a singular focus on race.
"If the goal is to compensate for past discrimination, then you would want to focus on those characteristics by which people were discriminated against in the past," Forde-Mazrui said. "There, race is the most significant basis in our history ... Socioeconomic status is more of a symptom [of past discrimination] than directly why, so it's less serving to rectify a past injustice."
If the goal is a diverse community, however, Forde-Mazrui said various criteria are used, including gender, socioeconomic status and religious and political affiliations.
White "Christian males are also very important to diversity, but in most contexts you don't need to give preference to those traits to get a substantial" population, Forde-Mazrui said.
Recently, people who haven't "benefited" from affirmative action have raised objections. Specifically, critics are concerned the program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Bill of Rights.
Jennifer Gratz filed suit against the University of Michigan because alleging that she had been denied admission solely because of her race. In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Gratz, deciding that the university's application of affirmative action, through the use of a quota system, was unconstitutional.
Michigan used a points system in which minority status earned applicants an automatic 20 points. According to Forde-Mazrui, this practice was not sufficiently tailored, meaning the policy relied too heavily on race alone.
"It's difficult [for white plaintiffs to win] because they have to show that you didn't get in [solely] because you're white," Forde-Mazrui said. "If you can prove the case that a particular white person would have gotten in but for an affirmative action policy, then they do have a legal case."
The white plaintiff does not always win, even if he or she can prove the case. Also in 2003, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the University of Michigan Law School's affirmative action policy, by which applications were reviewed holistically and with an eye toward increasing diversity
The law school "looked at the whole person," Forde-Mazrui said. "Race was one of many factors in deciding whether the student would contribute" to the community.
Tomorrow, students and administrators discuss criticisms of the controversial system.
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