"No state . . . shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction
the equal protection of the laws." So says the Equal Protection
Clause of the U.S. Constitution, a document held dear by Carl
Cohen, a professor of philosophy and longtime champion of civil
liberties who has devoted most of his adult life to the University
of Michigan. So when Cohen discovered, after encountering some
resistance, how his school, in its admirable wish to increase
minority enrollment, was actually practicing a form of racial
discrimination--calling it "affirmative action"--he found himself
at odds with his longtime allies and colleagues in an effort to
defend the equal treatment of the races at his university. In "A
Conflict of Principles" Cohen tells the story of what happened at
Michigan, how racial preferences were devised and implemented
there, and what was at stake in the heated and divisive controversy
that ensued. He gives voice to the judicious and seldom heard
liberal argument against affirmative action in college admission
policies.
In the early 1970s, as a member of the Board of Directors of the
American Civil Liberties Union, Cohen vigorously supported programs
devised to encourage the recruitment of minorities in colleges, and
in private employment. But some of these efforts gave deliberate
preference to blacks and Hispanics seeking university admission,
and this Cohen recognized as a form of racism, however
well-meaning. In his book he recounts the fortunes of contested
affirmative action programs as they made their way through the
legal system to the Supreme Court, beginning with "DeFunis v.
Odegaard" (1974) at the University of Washington Law School, then
"Bakke v. Regents of the University of California" (1978) at the
Medical School on the UC Davis campus, and culminating at the
University of Michigan in the landmark cases of "Grutter v.
Bollinger" and "Gratz v. Bollinger" (2003). He recounts his role in
the initiation of the Michigan cases, explaining the many arguments
against racial preferences in college admissions. He presents a
principled case for the resultant amendment to the Michigan
constitution, of which he was a prominent advocate, which
prohibited preference by race in public employment and public
contracting, as well as in public education.
An eminently readable personal, consistently fair-minded account
of the principles and politics that come into play in the struggles
over affirmative action, "A Conflict of Principles" is a deeply
thoughtful and thought-provoking contribution to our national
conversation about race.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
