Book ReviewsThe Politics of Preference: Democratic Institutions and Affirmative Action in the United States and India. By Sunita  Parikh. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997. Pp. ix+230. $39.50.

1998 ◽  
Vol 103 (5) ◽  
pp. 1465-1467
Author(s):  
John Echeverri‐Gent
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Affirmative Action ◽  
The United States ◽  
University Of Michigan ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Ann Arbor

The Origins of Affirmative Action

2020 ◽  
pp. 40-66
Author(s):  
Matthew Johnson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Affirmative Action ◽  
The United States ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
University Of Michigan ◽  
Student Body ◽  
Black Activism ◽  
Workplace Justice ◽  
Federal Contracts ◽  
The University

This chapter examines the origins of affirmative action in the University of Michigan (UM). The pressure that led to the university's first undergraduate affirmative action admissions program came from a federal bureaucrat and the president of the United States, who were both responding to black activism for workplace justice. Yet this pressure never threatened UM with the loss of lucrative federal contracts or potential court cases. UM adopted affirmative action in 1964 because people at the top of the institution wanted the university to change. This environment of weak federal coercion created a perfect recipe for co-optation. After the initial dose of federal pressure, UM officials took control of the purpose and character of affirmative action, creating a program that preserved the university's long-established priorities and values. It is no surprise, then, that between 1964 and 1967, black enrollment rose from only 0.5 to 1.65 percent of the student body. However, given that African Americans constituted more than 10 percent of the state population, affirmative action made a small dent in the racial disparities at UM.

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