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In 1965, when affirmative action officially became part of the national consensus
to achieve racial social justice, it was based on the compelling justification of
establishing equality and remedying the effects of past discrimination. Since then,
there has been a slow but steady shift from "equity" to "diversity" as its rationale.
The shift has had a negative effect on achieving the original goal of racial equality.
The diversity rationale has permitted parallel procedures to evolve that provided
majority students with an even larger differential advantage than that conferred on
minority students by affirmative action. In addition, we continue to have massive
segregation. Minorities are concentrated in second level schools in urban areas,
while whites are concentrated in higher quality institutions in the educational
suburbs. It is without factual or legal foundation that whites can argue that they
(relative to minorities) are the victims of discrimination through unfair and unequal
educational policies and practices that determine access to higher education.
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