Vida Newspaper - May 1982

May» 82 "KeAgwi'W ar\4 AMERICAN DRIAft Defense of Affirmative Action Michael F. Duran In the wake of the Bakke decision and in the midst of a general conservative attack on gains made during the Civil Rights era one might well ask, “Whatever happened to affir¬ mative action?” The philosophical, legal and political dimen¬ sions to this question are quite complex. Rather than answer this completely, I merely wish to explore some general issues and indicate some promising areas for study. One important issue would be that of need: are affirmative action programs necessary in 1982? Ten to fifteen years ago the answer would likely have been an unqualified yes. At that time, many Americans recognized the need to resolve the problems of racial, sexual (and to a lesser extent) class domination. More recently* other voices, both nationally and even here on this campus, have brought intoi question the goal of affir¬ mative action. One such voice is that of George Gilder, the author of Wealth and Poverty. This book was purchased by David Stockman, Reagan’s chief budget cutter, for his entire staff. Thus one can imagine that it had some impact on all our daily lives. In 1981 he wrote that: “The last thirty years in America, however, have seen a relentless and thoroughly successful advance against the old prejudices to the point that it is now virtually impossible to find in a position of power a serious racist” While no one would deny that great advances have taken place among hiinqrities and women, recent trends offer a sharp con¬ tradiction to this dangerously simple-minded and popular opi¬ nion. The Association of Mexican-American Educators in November 1981, released data which demonstrated the extent to whicfi the promise of educational affirmative action remains unfulfilled. While California Latinosmake up 15 percent of the high school graduates, they comprise less than 10 percent of the undergraduates in the state colleges; less than 8 percent of those in private colleges; less than 6 percent of the undergraduates in the U.C. system. Additionally, over the past five years, the number of bachelor degrees granted by the University of California actually declined. Further, in 1979, Latinos were granted only 1.8 percent of doctorates awarded in the United States. All of this despite the fact that the U.S. census shows an increase of some 92 percent in this same population in the state. Furthermore, these figures do not reflect the massive drop-out or push out rates of our youth from high school. Even more tragic are the unemployment rates for minority populations. Among both adults and youths these rates often twice that of the anglo unemployment rate. This in turn, has given rise to the theory that minorities and women form a secondary labor market pool which serves to depress all wages in the labor market and provide needed additional workers in times of economic expansion. Continued onp. 4