The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to hear Grutter and Gratz vs. Bollinger, a case challenging the University of Michigan's racial preferences has refueled the affirmative action debate. The focal point of the debate is whether affirmative action violates civil rights. It's difficult to debate the issue intelligently because we're talking past one another - as we haven't chosen to define affirmative action. Let's look at it.

Affirmative action means different things to different people. So allow me to list some of those alternative interpretations. To some Americans, perhaps most, affirmative action means a policy

Yes, higher education has made some progress. It has moved away from the old attitudes of exclusion. What it has not done is move far enough away from the institutionalized behaviors of exclusion. Even now --thirty-three years after passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964-- students of color continue to suffer from the neglect, disinterest, mis-guidance, and passive hostilities of educators and educational systems that just don't understand, don't care about, or don't see the too often negative consequences of being a person of color in this country.

The University of Michigan practices Affirmative Action III. Here are its rules for admission: perfect grade-point average (GPA) is worth 80 points; having a parent who attended the university, 4 points; scholarship athlete, 20; perfect Scholastic Aptitude Test score, 12; outstanding essay, 3; and being a member of a minority group, 20; socioeconomic status and other characteristics account for other bonus points.

Many individuals in this country believe and passionately argue that people of color have made great progress socially and economically. Because they perceive that progress has been made, they conclude that efforts like affirmative action are outdated, unfair and unnecessary. Others argue that racism, discrimination, exclusion and economic marginalization based on skin color continue to impede the progress of, and are a part of the current reality for too many, people of color in this country.

For another group of Americans, they reject the first 2 Affirmative Action definitions. In fact, they see those for

Some common words found in the essay are:
University Michigan, Rights Act, Affirmative Action's, Let's Affirmative, , Affirmative Action, University Michigan's, Action III, affirmative action, GPA LSAT, Aptitude Test, university michigan, people color, americans affirmative action, racial preferences, white students, law school, practices university, skin color, civil rights, affirmative action iii, practices university michigan, americans affirmative, affirmative action means, percent black law,
Approximate Word count = 1070
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)