Liz Butterfield
Assistant News Editor
Janeal Downs
Contributing Writer
VCU is a university with a firm stance on institutionalized diversity and equity and has historically upheld affirmative action policies.
After over 40 years, affirmative action policies continue to be controversial and the question of their constitutionality in law continues to be an issue for public universities. The Supreme Court is now hearing a case on institutionalized affirmative action policies, the foundation of these policies and how they affect the diversity of schools are being examined.
In the case of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, a white female student is suing the university for discriminating against her by admitting a student who Fisher believes was less qualified, but was admitted to promote diversity in the school. Fisher claims she was discriminated against based on her race.
Affirmative action began in 1961, when then-President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925, urging federal contractors to take affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity for employment on the basis of “race, creed, color, or national origin.” The Supreme Court has upheld affirmative action policies in American universities as recently as 2003, in Grutter v. Bollinger, the case now at risk of being overturned.
President Michael Rao’s published statement on diversity says students from underrepresented populations comprise around 40 percent of the student body. Rao plans to promote the university’s commitment to diversity and Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action policies and has included a Five Year Diversity plan to continue promoting these values.
To further assert these values, VCU recently created a new position, the Vice President for Diversity and Equity. Wanda S. Mitchell, the office’s founding vice president, started on Sept. 1 and is tasked with implementing VCU’s Five Year Diversity plan, which involves collaborating with leaders, faculty, staff and students to advance the core values of expanding diversity across the university. For example, the diversity office will address compliance and advocacy concerns regarding things like Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action and Americans with Disabilities Act services, according to a VCU press release.
“Diversity is more than just numbers. It is a cultural change,” Mitchell said. She believes that affirmative action programs and institutional non-discrimination policies are still vital to universities like VCU, despite the already diverse nature of its students. She feels VCU as a whole is not yet at the level of diversity it needs to be.
Political science professor John Aughenbaugh believes that even without affirmative action policies, VCU would still be a diverse campus.
Aughenbaugh said VCU is located in an urban area so the school already pulls in more diverse types of people than a rural area would. Compared to University of Virginia and Virginia Tech, VCU’s urban campus has much higher rates of diversity than more rural campuses.
If affirmative action policies are overturned, Aughenbaugh believes, “VCU and other affirmative action campuses will have to terminate all affirmative action programs,” he said. He predicts that universities will turn to other ways of increasing diversity on their campuses, like granting opportunity based not on race, but wealth, in an effort to continue to give underprivileged students better opportunities.
Mitchell stated that affirmative action policies are a federal requirement that VCU fulfills without quotas in its admissions process, but looks to test scores, academic history, an essay statement and other factors.
For Shekinah Malone, a post-bachelor’s degree pre-med student, diversity in her education is important and although she believes VCU no longer needs affirmative action policies to ensure diversity, other campuses may.
“I’m never in a room where I feel like there wasn’t some level of diversity, “ she said.
For Malone, knowing the backgrounds and cultures of a variety of people is vital to education.
“That’s what the real world is,” she said. “We’re always evolving and it’s a lot different than it was so many years ago, but it needs to continue … otherwise we won’t be able to communicate … on a broader spectrum.”
In Rao’s diversity statement, he said that until the Board of Visitors decides otherwise, the university will continue with its current diversity policies.