Introduction

Affirmative action began in the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement as a way for the US government to remedy the effects of long-standing discrimination against minorities and women. This policy gave limited preferences to these groups in jobs and admissions to institutes of higher learning as well as in other areas, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

This portfolio looks at affirmative action in the United States, focusing on how this controversial policy affects the following areas:

Page 1: Policy

Page 2: Public Opinion

Page 3: Education

Page 4: Employment

*This portfolio focuses solely on minorities.

Policy Graphic 1: State Policies on Affirmative Action

In 2020, Idaho became the ninth state to enact a ban on affirmative action policies. The first states to ban this policy were California and Texas in 1996. The US Supreme Court in 2003 reversed the ban in Texas. According to a Brookings Institute article published in 2020, "the elimination of affirmative action has led to persistent declines in the share of underrepresented minorities among students admitted to and enrolling in public flagship universities in these states." The below graphic illustrates which states have banned affirmative action policies.

Policy Graphic 2: Universities on Affirmative Action

The below map depicts that a majority of the 650+ public, 4-year universities across the US do not consider race in their admissions process, according to the College Board. In Wisconsin, more than 90% of public, 4-year universities report that they consider race in admissions. Seven states, located mostly in the Northeast, have between 45% to 60% of public, 4-year universities that employ affirmative action policies. Eighteen states do not have any universities that claim to consider race in their admissions process.

Public Opinion Graphic 1: Perceptions of Equal Job Opportunity

The first graphic shows the proportion of "Yes" responses to a question related to affirmative action on a Gallup Poll survey conducted between the years 2001 and 2018. The question asked was "Do you feel racial minorities in this country have equal job opportunities as whites, or not?" The graphic visualizes that while over 50% of White Americans said Yes to the aforementioned question each year it was asked, less than 50% of Latin X and even less Black Americans said "Yes" to the same question.

Public Opinion Graphic 2: Asian Americans on Affirmative Action

Plaintiffs in a recent Supreme Court case called "Fair Admissions Inc v. President and Fellows of Harvard College" claimed that affirmative action unfairly targets Asian Americans. However, in the below graphic, 70% of Asian Americans support affirmative action based on a survey done in 2020. In fact, each sub group still shows greater than 50% support for affirmative action, according AAPI Data, a nationally recognized publisher of demographic data and policy research on Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

Public Opinion Graphic 3: Affirmative Action and Jobs

The National Opinion Research Center has polled Americans over the last 30 years on the following question: "What do you think the chances are these days that a white person won't get a job or promotion while an equally or less qualified black person gets one instead?" For the first 20 years of the survey, many replied "Inapplicable." However, over the last 10 years, these responses decreased while responses of "Not Very Likely", "Somewhat Likely", and "Very Likely" increased. This change probably relates to the 2008 election and the more contested 2012 re-election of America's first Black President.

Employment Graphic 1: Racial Demographics in Academia

The graphic below depicts three levels of professorship achieved in Academia and the racial break out at each level during the years 2015 through 2018 with data from the US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Post secondary Education Data System. White Americans make up the majority of professors at all levels, especially at the full professorship level. By contrast, Asian, Black and Latin X populations have more representation at the lower levels of professorship.

Employment Graphic 2: Affirmative Action in Law Enforcement

This next graphic looks at employment data from 479 of the largest US state and local law enforcement agencies that were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) between 1973 and 2005. According to the data, most of the nation-wide affirmative action plans in the selected law enforcement offices ended due to court mandate, especially during the 1990s. This graphic suggests that affirmative action-based hiring plans may no longer be in place in most large law enforcement offices.

Employment Graphic 3: Federal Sector Job Demographics

In 2021, people of color made up around 40% of the US population and nearly 38% of the federal workforce. However, upon closer inspection, racial minorities as a whole represent only 23% of all career Senior Executive Service officers, according to the Office of Personnel Management. In addition, 2018 data from the US Census Bureau shows that people of color held more labor and administrative jobs and less manager positions as seen in the below graphic.

Education Graphic 1: School Completion Levels

This first education graphic compares the highest level of education achieved in 2015 by 20-24 year olds within each of the four largest racial groups in the United States: White, Black, Asian, and Latin X, according to data taken from the Census Bureau. In the graphic, it depicts that 97% of Asian, 78% of Black, 87% of Latin X, and 94% White Americans surveyed had completed high school and at least one year of college. This highlights the education gaps among several racial groups, potentially in part because many states and universities do not subscribe to affirmative action policies.

Education Graphic 2: Harvard's Whole Person Admissions Process

The next graphic on education shows enrollment by racial demographics at Harvard University over the last 10 years. Despite Harvard employing a “whole person” approach – which includes recognizing a person’s race – in its application process, the graphic demonstrates that Asian Americans have the second largest enrollment population behind White Americans. This data from the National Center for Education Statistics also would dispute the plaintiffs' current case against Harvard in which they argue that the college discriminates against Asian American applicants in its undergraduate admissions process.