This journal (published by the American Association of University Professors) takes a close look at the question of diversity in America's universities. In a series of articles, scholars present various positions, some treading carefully through a miasma of controversy, some firing defiant broadsides. The discussion is especially timely in view of California's recent decision to abolish affirmative action programs that promote diversity. No solution is offered here, but scholars do define and defend their positions. Cahn remarks that what was championed by President Johnson in 1965 as an effort to recruit students and faculty without regard to race, religion, or national origin has turned into an effort to admit students and hire faculty because of ethnic diversity.


Early, Gerald. UNDERSTANDING INTEGRATION (Civilization, vol. 3, no. 5, October/November 1996, pp. 51-59)

Early, of Washington University in St. Louis, traces the history of integration in the United States, from Jackie Robinson's pivotal 1947 breakthrough into professional baseball's major leagues to the 1995 Million Man March. He says both blacks and whites "sentimentalize, even romanticize, the communal power of black life before integration, in large measure because they feel that integration has been a disappointment and has run its course."


Edley, Christopher, Jr. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION ANGST (Change, vol. 28, no. 5, September/October 1996, pp. 13-15)

The use of affirmative action programs to redress past racial and ethnic injustices, or to move toward greater institutional diversity, continues to be an issue of disagreement in the United States. As is the case with many issues which come before U.S. appellate courts and the Supreme Court, its use involves competing and conflicting guarantees or objectives derived directly or indirectly from the U.S. Constitution. The author, a Harvard Law School professor and director of the task force which defined Clinton administration policy in this difficult area, looks at the impact of recent lower court rulings and the campaign rhetoric. He argues that what continues to be needed is not retreat from the principle, but adjustment and good sense, exactly what President Clinton called for when he declared that affirmative action has always been good for America... Mend it, but don't end it."


Etzioni, Amitai. NEW ISSUES: RETHINKING RACE (The Public Perspective, vol. 8, no. 4, June/July 1997, pp. 39-41)

Every ten years, the American government is required to count its citizens. This census provides an array of information in addition to determining the number of members of Congress from each state, and how the congressional districts are defined. One of the categories the census currently measures is race. In this article, Professor Etzioni argues that the introduction of a new racial category, "all-American" or "multi-racial," would emphasize unity rather than difference, and thus soften racial lines which now divide America. Opponents are concerned that blurring racial differences could damage important cultural richness and weaken the commitment to wider racial justice.


Fullinwider, Robert K. CIVIL RIGHTS AND RACIAL PREFERENCES: A LEGAL HISTORY OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION (Report from the Institute for Philosophy & Public Policy, vol. 17, nos. 1 & 2, Winter/Spring 1997, pp. 9-20)

A review of the history of affirmative action since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 suggests that what began as nonpreferential actions to offset the consequences of racial discrimination moved toward a range of preferential actions that visited discrimination on non-minority citizens. Recent legal decisions suggest that American society does not favor the use of racial preferences.


Galston, William A. AN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION STATUS REPORT: EVIDENCE AND OPTIONS (Report from the Institute for Philosophy & Public Policy, vol. 17, nos. 1 & 2, Winter/Spring 1997, pp. 2-9)

This history of affirmative-action policies in American society, with particular focus on programs in the U.S. military and the University of California system, highlights several key areas of contemporary debate concerning this approach to racial justice. These include conflicts between means and ends, the question of whether transitional measures should become permanent, and the public's voice in affirmative-action policies. The author, director of the University of Maryland's Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, offers a number of policy options that would address shortcomings of current affirmative-action programs and also provide alternatives -- both aimed at increasing opportunity rather than mandating results.


Graglia, Lino A., and others. THE LONG HYPHEN: BLACK SEPARATION VS. AMERICAN INTEGRATION (Society, vol. 33, no. 3, March/April 1996, pp. 7-47)

This symposium contains nine articles by U.S. scholars on the effects of the Supreme Court's 1954 landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, the intent of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the continuing debate about affirmative action.


Hendrie, Caroline. WITHOUT COURT ORDERS, SCHOOLS PONDER HOW TO PURSUE DIVERSITY (Education Week, vol. 16, no. 31, April 30, 1997, pp. 1, 36)

For many years, attempts to achieve racial progress in public school education in the United States have centered on integration. Segregation based on law (de jure) was outlawed in the 1950s. The 1970s and 1980s saw a variety of attempts to repair actual (de facto) segregation separation reflecting different neighborhoods and living patterns. The most extreme solution was court-ordered busing of students in substantial numbers from local schools to more distant institutions so as to achieve some racial balance or diversity. In recent years, courts and school administrators in some areas have been discarding the perception that de facto segregation reflects a substantial social ill. This article examines the major reasons for this reassessment, and reviews some of the current educational alternatives.


Johnson, Roy, and others. THE NEW BLACK POWER (Fortune, vol. 136, no. 3, August 4, 1997, pp. 46-82)

In a special section of articles, the magazine focuses on the ascent of African Americans in the U.S. business sector, with particular emphasis on Wall Street, the global economy and the computer industry. Included are portraits of key new agents of change in the power structure -- entrepreneurs, executives and community leaders...forthright in their pursuit of influence and unfazed by obstacles. In the words of Hugh Price, president of the National Urban League, there is opportunity and there is action right now.


Kennedy, Randall. MY RACE PROBLEM AND OURS (The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 279, no. 5, May 1997, pp. 55-66)

Expressing his belief that racial pride must be linked to accomplishment and not simply to kinship, the author, a Harvard Law School professor, argues against racially stratified loyalty. This does not mean he supports a racially-blind perspective, observing that it is bad policy to blind oneself to any potentially useful knowledge. But outreach of any kind to one group or another should be based not on racial kinship but on distributive justice. Ultimately, he proposes a shoe-on-the-other-foot test for the propriety of racial sentiment. If a sentiment or practice would be judged offensive when voiced or implemented by anyone, it should be viewed as prima-facie offensive generally.


Loury, Glenn C. HOW TO MEND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION (The Public Interest, no. 127, Spring 1997, pp. 33-43)

Boston University economist Glenn C. Loury writes that lowering standards in order to hire or admit blacks is harmful to both black and white Americans. Loury argues that family nurturing and developmental opportunities are more important in the long run than "quotas" or affirmative action policies that do everyone (employer/employee, school/student) a disservice. He concludes that "it is morally unjustified and to this African American, humiliating that preferential treatment based on race should become institutionalized for those of us who are now enjoying all the advantages of middle-class life."


Salins, Peter D. ASSIMILATION, AMERICAN STYLE (Reason, vol. 28, no. 9, February 1997, pp. 20-26)

In America, unlike many other societies, assimilation has not meant repudiating immigrant culture, the author says. "Assimilation, American style, has always been much more flexible and accommodating and, consequently, much more effective in achieving its purpose to allow the United States to preserve its `national unity in the face of the influx of hordes of persons of scores of different nationalities,' in the words of the sociologist Henry Fairchild."


Santiago, Roberto. CRITICAL CONDITION (Hispanic, vol. 9, no. 8, August 1996, pp. 19-22)

According to the author, Hispanic experts on affirmative action say the policy is under attack not because the majority of Americans are against it but because conservative critics have effectively distorted its definition. Santiago reports on the concerns of the Hispanic community, noting that although there may be little hope to save this "staple of the civil rights movement," there is much Hispanics can do to preserve it by debunking conservative myths, writing to their elected representatives and supporting political action committees.


Skerry, Peter. THE STRANGE POLITICS OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION (Wilson Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 1, Winter 1997, pp. 39-46)

The author cites sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset's point of view that in recent years, affirmative action policies have brought two core American values egalitarianism and individualism into sharp conflict. Skerry argues that the conflict can and does coexist in the same individual. This leads to the inevitable corollary question, how do members of minority groups reconcile the benefits they receive from affirmative action with their own individualist values? The answer to this and other questions on the subject has as much to do with the nature of contemporary American politics as with the state of race relations. And while some comfort can be had in this finding, it also suggests that the controversy will be all the more difficult to resolve.


White, Jack E. I'M JUST WHO I AM (Time, vol. 149, no. 18, May 5, 1997, pp. 32-36)

The United States is "fast becoming the most polyglot society in history," according to the author. If current demographic trends persist, midway though the 21st century, whites will no longer make up a majority of the U.S. population. Blacks will have been overtaken as the largest minority group by Hispanics ... and Asians and Pacific Islanders will more than double their number...." Increasing intermarriage has led to a proliferation of racial combinations. This article explains what is happening and how this has led to a debate as to whether the term "multiracial" should be added to census forms.

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