美国保守主义政治与大学招生平权行动的终结-清华大学教育研究

文章信息/Info

Title:: American Conservatives and the End of Affirmative Action in College Admission

Author(s):: KOU Kun-zhao WANG Ming-yang; Graduate School of Education, Beijing Foreign Studies University

Keywords:: colleges and universities admission; Affirmative Action; American politics; education equity

摘要:: 美国大学招生的平权行动对弱势少数族裔学生进行政策倾斜,是实现教育公平的重要渠道。然而,因涉及录取机会分配的“零和博弈”以及作为种族议题的敏感属性,招生平权行动自20世纪70年代起就争议不断,并在过去30年间持续衰退。“里根时代”以来保守主义主导美国政坛,保守派从90年代起开始通过司法诉讼和政策法律禁令对平权行动施加规限。这不仅直接禁止一些公立大学实施平权行动,还间接改变了大学的政策和法律环境,驱使许多大学主动终止相关政策。2023年6月,美国联邦最高法院判决哈佛大学、北卡罗来纳大学考虑种族因素的招生政策违宪,大学招生平权行动彻底终结。“后平权行动时代”的教育公平难以保障,美国大学招生政策也将会面临更多不确定性。

Abstract:: Affirmative action in American college admissions has been a pivotal policy for advancing educational equity by favoring underrepresented minority students. However, as a sensitive racial issue embedded in the “zero-sum game” of allocating higher education opportunities, affirmative action has faced continuous controversy since the 1970s and has seen a steady decline over the past 30 years. Marked by the “Reagan era,” conservatism started to dominate American politics. In the 1990s, conservatives began to impose judicial, legislative, and political restrictions on affirmative action. This not only directly prohibited some public universities from implementing affirmative action policies but also indirectly altered the policy and legal landscapes of higher education, prompting many universities to voluntarily terminate relevant policies. In June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the race-conscious admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina were unconstitutional, which ended Affirmative Action in college admissions. This decision marks a challenging future for achieving educational equity in the “post-affirmative action era” and introduces greater uncertainty into the admissions policies of American universities and colleges.