A call to action

Abstract

In Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, the Fifth Circuit Court of the Appeals was recently charged with determining whether the University’s race-conscious admissions policy is narrowly crafted to produce an ethnically diverse student body and the educational benefits that flow therefrom. In light of the modern hostility towards affirmative action, as demonstrated by US Supreme Court opinions and various statewide bans of racially preferential programs, the pundits question whether affirmative action will soon become obsolete. Equally important, since such state bans have proven to correlate with declines in public college admission rates of minorities, and because one’s education naturally coincides with their job opportunities, the Fisher ruling could indirectly perpetuate longstanding barriers between minorities and lucrative career options that have been traditionally closed to them. Thus, a question that may become pertinent in the aftermath of Fisher is, “In a nation without affirmative action programs, how can employment institutions ensure that historically disenfranchised groups will be recruited and considered for, and represented in, the corporate workforce?” Notwithstanding Fisher’s ultimate judgment, it is incumbent upon employers to forge the answer by significantly broadening their current diversity recruitment efforts if Corporate America is to ever truly achieve its critical mass.