[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 133 (Friday, August 4, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1119]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




OPPOSING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S ATTACK ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN HIGHER 
                               EDUCATION

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 4, 2017

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, in less than one week, the Trump 
Administration has managed to level a double blow to the fight against 
discrimination faced by minority groups in our country.
  Yesterday, the Trump Justice Department, currently headed by Attorney 
General Jeff Session, announced plans to redirect departmental 
resources toward investigating and suing universities over their 
affirmative action admissions policies.
  Mr. Speaker, this preemptive attack on higher education affirmative 
action programs, if fully implemented, will deny educational 
opportunities to millions of deserving students from underrepresented 
communities and hamper America's ability to compete and win in an 
increasingly complex, competitive, multicultural global economy.
  Not only does the announcement by the Justice Department threatens to 
undo decades of progress in trying to ensure that every child in 
America--regardless of race or ethnicity--has an equal opportunity to 
succeed, but it is directly contrary to long line of judicial precedent 
upholding the use of race-conscious affirmative action programs that 
are narrowly drawn and administered to achieve diversity in higher 
education.
  It was only a year ago that the Supreme Court, in Fisher v. 
University of Texas, No. 14-981, 579 U.S. __ (2016), affirmed that the 
admissions policy of the University of Texas at Austin complied with 
the principles established in Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 
(2003), which held that ``obtaining the educational benefits of student 
body diversity is a compelling state interest that can justify the use 
of race in university admissions.''
  Mr. Speaker, as the Member of Congress for the Eighteenth 
Congressional District of Texas, I am proud to be a representative from 
a state that has played a pivotal role in the nation's educational 
equity jurisprudence, beginning with the landmark case of Sweatt v. 
Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950), won by Thurgood Marshall and which held 
that segregated law schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 
Fourteenth Amendment and laid the foundation for the landmark decision 
in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), which prohibited 
racial segregation in all schools.
  Affirmative action is needed to ensure diversity on college campuses 
which will yield diversity in the ranks of America's future leaders.
  In a globalized and increasingly interconnected world, the nation 
that succeeds is the one best positioned to adapt to a world of 
differences--cultural, religious, economic, social, racial, and 
political.
  The key to success in a diverse global economy is learning to adapt 
and thrive in diverse communities where the next generation and its 
leaders are educated and trained.
  That is why it is truly appalling that the Sessions-led Department of 
Justice is seeking to undermine the principles established in Grutter 
v. Bollinger: that diversity in higher education is such a compelling 
governmental interest that race-conscious admission policies are 
permissible if other alternatives are found to be inadequate.
  Mr. Speaker, we have seen before the effects of university admissions 
policies that do not address racial disparities in access to higher 
education.
  From 1997 to 2004, affirmative action in admissions at the University 
of Texas was barred by the infamous Fifth Circuit decision in Hopwood 
v. Texas, 78 F.3d 932 (5th. Cir. 1996).
  As a result of the University of Texas's inability to consider a 
qualified applicant's race in the admissions process, between 1997 and 
2004 African-American students never comprised more than 4.5 percent 
the entering class--far below the 13 percent of Texas high school 
graduates who are African Americans.
  Worse yet, for the students attending the University of Texas during 
that period, 4 out of every 5 of classes (79 percent) at the University 
had zero, or only one, African-American student.
  It should go without saying that these are not statistics we would 
like to see repeated, nor is this any way to produce a generation of 
American leaders for the 21st century.
  Affirmative action works; it is the right thing to do for our 
country.
  Fostering educational diversity and greater opportunity is critical 
to our nation's future in a global economy and an increasingly 
interconnected world.
  That is why diversity is supported by a broad cross-section of 
American society, including military leaders, major corporations, small 
business owners, educators, and students from all backgrounds.
  An America that celebrates diversity in higher education will produce 
the leaders, inventors, entrepreneurs, diplomats, public servants, and 
teachers that will serve our nation well in the global economy of the 
21st century.
  We must stand loudly and unequivocally against any effort made by 
this Administration to subvert the progress we have made in 
guaranteeing every American student, regardless of race, ethnicity, 
religion or other immutable characteristics, access to higher education 
and in positioning our country to compete and win in the global economy 
of the 21st century.

                          ____________________