If recent events in the education community are any indication, Americans are beginning to question affirmative action as an educational and a social policy -- thirty years after it was instituted.
Last month, the Board of Regents of the University of California voted to eliminate their affirmative action program for admissions and hiring.
The University system had aimed to reflect the ethnic makeup of the state of California. But efforts to attain this goal brought charges of turning down better-qualified white or Asian applicants in favor of members of under represented minority groups.
Though the event was isolated in the state of California, it may reflect a growing public anger with affirmative action, which may be a 'hot-button' issue in next year's presidential election.
"There clearly is a backlash against affirmative action," said Mary Childers, the College's Director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action for the College.
"It is striking how many people have demanded their meritocracy now that their monopoly is over," she added.
Though the College has made no significant changes recently, Childers said if voters elect a strongly anti-affirmative action president and congress in 1996, the College would definitely be affected because it receives money from the federal government for research and students' financial aid.
"We have to respond to federal regulations," she said.
But the College "has no intention of backtracking" on equal opportunity, Childers said.
If the government backed away from its support of affirmative action programs, Dartmouth would work for diversity in other ways, she said.
Still, Childers said misconceptions about affirmative action abound. Many people believe affirmative action is synonymous with quotas, but Childers said quotas are only used in cases where the government discovers "evidence of systemic discrimination."
If someone files a complaint about prejudice in hiring, or if data shows a strong discrepancy between local minority population and hiring statistics, then the government may investigate and impose quotas, Childers said.
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg acknowledged a new stigma attached to the term "affirmative action."
"I don't even use the word affirmative action in admissions," he said.
Furstenberg said unlike the California school system, Dartmouth uses no numerical targets in its admissions policy.
He called the California decision "unfortunate" and said he felt there was a strong political dimension in the decision.
Furstenberg said there is the possibility that the College, like other private colleges, could see more minority applicants from California because of this decision.
The College's Office of Affirmative Action deals with Dartmouth's hiring practices, not its admissions policies, he said.
"In the employment area, things are much more technical," Furstenberg said.
About 3.3 percent of Dartmouth's employees are minorities, a number which has been stagnant for ten years, Childers said.
"There's no question that equal opportunity and equal access are under more scrutiny nationwide," Furstenberg said.
Llezlie Green '97, the summer president of the Afro-American Society, called the California decision "a shame."
"I personally think the attack of affirmative action is hitting at the wrong problem," she said.
Misperceptions about how many people have been helped by affirmative action programs abound, she said.
Green said she felt having a diverse student body was valuable to her.
Patricia Frausto '97, the summer president of La Alianza Latina, said she too was disappointed in the decision.
Frausto's twin sister is a student at the University of California at Los Angeles, and Frausto spent spring term at the University of California at San Diego.
"It's really a travesty how the UC system has decided to go along with the wave of politicism that has no place in education," she said.
Frausto said she supported affirmative action. "If diversity is one of your goals then affirmative action is one of the better ways to go," she said.
But Scott Rowenkamp '97, a Student Assembly member, said he agreed with the decision.
"I think it's good," he said. Race should not be a factor in weighing the merits of applicants, but that background and circumstances should be examined, he said.
"You can have a student coming from a white middle class and a black middle class family who have the same sort of background," he said.
Rowenkamp said he sees race as an irrelevant factor in Dartmouth admissions.
"I don't really think at a school like Dartmouth [race] should really be a factor in the admissions process," he said. "I don't really see the need for that question on the application."
