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Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Law

Negative Action Versus Affirmative Action: Asian Pacific Americans Are Still Caught In The Crossfire, William C. Kidder Jan 2006

Negative Action Versus Affirmative Action: Asian Pacific Americans Are Still Caught In The Crossfire, William C. Kidder

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

The author concludes that Espenshade and Chung's inattention to the distinction between negative action and affirmative action effectively marginalizes APAs and contributes to a skewed and divisive public discourse about affirmative action, one in which APAs are falsely portrayed as conspicuous adversaries of diversity in higher education. The author will also argue that there is ample reason to be concerned about the harmful effects of divisive and empirically unsupported claims about APAs influencing the public debate over affirmative action, particularly in Michigan, where an anti-affirmative action initiative nearly identical to California's Proposition 209 will appear on the November 2006 ballot. …


The Diversity Rationale: Unprovable, Uncompelling, Brian N. Lizotte Jan 2006

The Diversity Rationale: Unprovable, Uncompelling, Brian N. Lizotte

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Student body diversity-and the purported educational benefits diversity bestows- is the final Supreme Court-endorsed justification for affirmative action by public universities. Are the benefits of diversity indeed "substantial," as the Grutter majority claimed? The author analyzes the social scientific research upon which the Court relied in articulating the diversity interest. By critiquing its theory and methodology, the author shows how the research fails to prove educational benefits; and by considering the logic underlying social science generally, he shows how the causal relationship is, technically, not provable. The author questions, then, how the diversity interest can possibly be compelling.


Reading, Writing, And Reparations: Systemic Reform Of Public Schools As A Matter Of Justice, Verna L. Williams Jan 2006

Reading, Writing, And Reparations: Systemic Reform Of Public Schools As A Matter Of Justice, Verna L. Williams

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article analyzes Virginia's effort to remedy massive resistance and posits that, under reparations theory, a broader remedy is necessary to redress the scope of the state's wrongdoing. To do this, Part I briefly examines reparations theory, which provides the tools to identify the proper scope of the injury to be addressed, and, in turn, informs the proper choice of remedy. With this background, Part II discusses the Brown Fund Act and the massive resistance it seeks to remedy. In this connection, the Article demonstrates that the school shutdowns were part of a statewide decision to defy Brown and maintain …


Urban Legends, Desegregation And School Finance: Did Kansas City Really Prove That Money Doesn't Matter?, Preston C. Green Iii, Bruce D. Baker Jan 2006

Urban Legends, Desegregation And School Finance: Did Kansas City Really Prove That Money Doesn't Matter?, Preston C. Green Iii, Bruce D. Baker

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article examines whether conservative critics are correct in their assertion that the Kansas City, Missouri School District (KCMSD) desegregation plan clearly establishes that no correlation exists between funding and academic outcomes. The first section provides a summary of public education in KCMSD prior to 1977, the beginning of the Missouri v. Jenkins school desegregation litigation. The second and third sections analyze whether the Jenkins desegregation and concurrent school finance litigation (Committee for Educational Equality v. State) addressed these problems. The fourth section provides an overview of school finance litigation and explains how KCMSD desegregation plan has been …


A History Of Hollow Promises: How Choice Juisprudence Fails To Achieve Educational Equality, Anita F. Hill Jan 2006

A History Of Hollow Promises: How Choice Juisprudence Fails To Achieve Educational Equality, Anita F. Hill

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article combines analysis of case law at state and federal levels as well as federal educational policy in an effort to formulate a framework for addressing educational inequalities, of which the achievement gap is only one result. As individual rights concepts control the discourse of equal educational opportunity, community injury continues to be ignored. Because educational policy aimed at ending educational inequities is governed by equal protection analysis and guided by court decisions, limitations in legal opinions drive such policies. The lack of attention to community harm in law and educational policy limits the ability of education legal reforms …