From the inception of affirmative action, conservative politicians and writers attacked this policy, and most recently the same rhetoric was used to dismantle affirmative action programs. The University of California announced that race would not be taken into consideration fin admissions policies, in 1995, where a 14-10 vote was cast by the regents of the university. In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 209, which prohibited any state institution can 'discriminate against, or grand prefrential treatment to, any individual group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethncity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting." The wording of the entire text was deceptive and was quite different from the referendum i

There are many factors that go into admission policies and the criteria used is diversified and many times these selective universities admit an applicant with a low SAT score over a high SAT score, by virtue of the community- mindedness the applicant has exhibited and at other times due to athletic ability. Is it unfair to allow race to be a criteria for allowing applicants in, when it is the future ability that they are being judged upon? Are 28 black students admitted at one of these selective institution unfair? With the fewer minorities admitted into these selective universities, it would be presumably so. Is it not a goal of these selective institutions to better prepare students for their future, not only academically, but with a community- mindedness that seems so absent in many white graduating students and isolating these students from exposure to different races can cause detriment to a sense of the American community mindedness so desparately needed for the future of this world. We should expect our institutions of higher learning to follow more than academic knowledge or we will only be educating those people who want nothing more than amassing wealth and power for themselves without any regards to better the community, states or country, from which they garner their living.

Critics of affirmative action have stated the negative impact of minority students in selective colleges that this merely augments racial tensions and causes racial isolation among the students. While black students comprised less than 10 percent of the student body in most of these selective colleges, when students were asked if they had "known well" two or more students that were different from themselves in the following areas, geographical, economical, and race, 56 percent answered in the affirmative.

By the following year at the Boalt Hall law school at Berkley, the top law school in California, enrolled only 1 black student, instead of the 24 black students enrolled for almost three decades. In Texas, the Texas Law school had previously enrolled 31 black students, only 4 black students were enrolled in 1997. Critics of affirmative action have argued that the affirmative action program hurt race relations within these higher learning institutions, rather than improved race relations. These critics also state that they have had to lower their admission standards to accept students who are not capable of benefitting from the education they receive, but further examination of this assertion must be reviewed.

It is proof positive that not only did the black male and female students benefit from graduating from a selective university, but this proved that these minority students were "fit" to attend the selective universities. If these minority students had not been "fit" to attend these institutions, they would have not been able to obtain or keep their well-paid jobs in business, law and medicine. Their education and ability allow them to offer valuable service to their employers and this is evident in the number of professionals in law, politics, medicine, science and the arts. Income is not the only indicator that affirmative action was successful in its goals.

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Approximate Word count = 2619
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)