With the Supreme Court weighing two cases involving Harvard and the University of North Carolina that could end affirmative action in higher education, scholars William B. Allen of Michigan State University and Hasan Kwame Jeffries of The Ohio State University discuss its future. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
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William B. Allen is a resident scholar and the former chief operating officer of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. He is also emeritus professor of political philosophy in the department of political science and emeritus dean of the James Madison College at Michigan State University. He previously served on the U.S. National Council for the Humanities, as chairman and member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and as chairman and co-founder of Toward A Fair Michigan. He has published extensively, and his most recent book is The State of Black America: Progress, Pitfalls, and the Promise of the Republic.
Hasan Kwame Jeffries is associate professor of history at The Ohio State University. He is the author of Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt, the editor of Understanding and Teaching the Civil Rights Movement, and his current book project is In the Shadow of Civil Rights. He hosts the podcast Teaching Hard History and has also contributed to several documentary film projects, including the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary Black America Since MLK.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- William B. Allen, “End of Affirmative Action 2023”
- William B. Allen, Drew S. Days III, Benjamin L. Hooks, and William Bradford Reynolds, “Is Affirmative Action Constitutional?” AEI Journal on Government and Society
- Jonathan Hicks, “Proponents Worry About Supreme Court Review of Affirmative Action,” BET
- “Why Conservatives want the Supreme Court to take up Affirmative Action Case,” Yahoo!News
- National Constitution Center, “14th Amendment: Citizenship Rights, Equal Protection, Apportionment, Civil War Debt,” Interactive Constitution
- National Constitution Center, “Affirmative Action and the 14th Amendment,” Live at the National Constitution
- National Constitution Center, “Affirmative Action and the 14th Amendment – Part 1,” We the People podcast
- National Constitution Center, “Affirmative Action and the 14th Amendment – Part 2,” We the People podcast
- Fisher v. University of Texas (2013)
- Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)
- Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
- Griggs v. Duke Power Company (1971)
- Oral Argument Trasnscript in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College
- Oral Argument Trasnscript in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina
- Slaughter-House Cases (1873)
- National Constitution Center, "Civil Rights Act of 1866," Founders' Library: Civil War and Reconstruction
- National Constitution Center, "Civil Rights Act of 1875," Founders' Library: Civil War and Reconstruction
- Shelby County v. Holder (2013)
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