A legal and philosophical inquiry into affirmative action

This thesis explores the controversial question of affirmative action in higher education. The United States Supreme Court's recent ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S.---(2003) and Gratz v. Bollinger, 529 U.S.---(2003) is sparking a resurgence of debate over the issue. Both Grutter and Gratz filed lawsuits claiming that the University of Michigan affirmative action plan violated their right to equal protection of the laws because it served as a form of reverse discrimination by considering race in the admissions process. While the University of Michigan defended its use of affirmative action in higher education by citing the need for a diverse campus which originated in Justice Powell's opinion in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978). The Supreme Court's recent decision in these two cases has changed the nature of affirmative action making it a policy that no longer focuses solely on race but instead, looks at a variety of factors when deciding which applicants to admit.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

2004

Author dc:creator

• Van Buren, Shauna Allyn Donahue

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jerry Simich

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/1677

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-2676