Affirmative Action in Higher Education.

Stated as a legal constitutional issue the question is, Do affirmative action programs that embody some form of preferential treatment of selected groups resulting in possible quotas constitute reverse discrimination in violation of basic constitutional rights? This issue represents one of the most fundamental questions for our society that the United States Supreme Court will ever decide. That Court has yet to rule on that issue. Therefore, higher education must look for guidance to the lower federal as well as state courts as these tribunals continually interpret statutes, administrative guidelines, and institutional policies and actions. It is the purpose of this paper to review selected pertinent court decisions regarding affirmative action. Among the cases discussed are DeFunis v. Odegaard, Henson v. University of Arkansas, Alevy v. Downstate Medical Center, Bakke v. Regents of the University of California, Flanagan v. President and Directors of Georgetown College, and Cramer v. Virginia Commonwealth University. (Author/IRT)