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Article Evaluation: Affirmative action at the University of Michigan


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Draft of my addition to the article Affirmative action at the University of Michigan:

Affirmative action admission at the University of Michigan originated within the promotion of jobs for African Americans through federal policies. It was implemented by Hobart Taylor Jr. Lyndon Johnson, executive vice chairman of the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity(PCEEO). Taylor assisted President Kennedy with the executive order that included the policy of affirmative action. From this, with his position in PCEEO, Taylor start to think of how he could expand the African American population's access to higher education

He couldn’t use the Executive Order 10925 because admissions was not stated. For this reform to occur, he had to start at schools he was familiar with. Since he was an alum at the University of Michigan's Law school, UM was an easy target for him. First, he held conferences with UM and Wayne State University to discuss the hiring of African American faculty members and their access to higher education. He then realized he needed to create an ally with someone in the admission's office and luckily he did, with Roger Heyns, UM's Vice President for Academic Affairs. Heyns started this movement by proposing to the university how affirmative action will make it more accessible for black students and how the university's colorblind policies were not enough. This caught the attention of the University's President Harlan Hatcher.

Hatcher supported Taylor's reform and so he got invited, along with 174 other education leaders, by Kennedy to the White House on June 1963. There they discussed how they can create more educational opportunities for African American high schoolers.

During the fall of 1963, UM officials decided to come up with affirmative action admission policies. They first took a census of how many black students were on campus. The results from 1964 showed 148 black undergraduates and 25 black graduates at UM. This showed how African American made up 0.5 percent of the student body. They realized that this was the effect of the colorblind policies the university implemented. These policies would support middle-class white students and ignored the black students that met UM's admission criteria but could not afford to attend because of the little financial aid they were given by the university.

Since the University had to reduce the likelihood of resistance that would've been brought up through an affirmative action program that was exclusively for African Americans, they decide to open up a program in March 1964 that was open to all students. It mainly focused in those who have a background of a disadvantaged socio-economic status. The program looked more into high school counselor evaluations rather than looking at their GPA and standardized test scores. There also is an option that allowed students to interview with an admissions counselor. And once they are admitted through the program, they are granted a scholarships that covers most of their expenses. They named it the Opportunity Awards Program (OAP).

The purpose of OAP was to admit more African American students, however it was made open to whites as well to protect the university from resistance. For this to happen, OAP recruiters were sent to high schools that were predominately African American. After OAP's first year, during fall of 1964, sixty-seven of the seventy scholars were African American. By the end  of the decade, the university saw an increase of the African American community from .5 percent to 3 percent. This was UM's first time seeing this many African Americans having access to a well-known state school.

Sources used:

Johnson, M. (2017). Managing racial inclusion: The origins and early implementation of affirmative action admissions at the university of michigan. Journal of Policy History : JPH, 29(3), 462-489. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0898030617000197