Multiculturalism in America
Multiculturalism relates to communities containing multiple cultures. In the United States, multiculturalism is not clearly established in policy at the federal level, but ethnic diversity is common in both rural and urban areas. Continuous mass immigration was a feature of the United States economy and society since the first half of the 19th century. The absorption of the stream of immigrants became, in itself, a prominent feature of America's national myth. The idea of the Melting pot is a metaphor that implies that all the immigrant cultures are mixed and amalgamated without state intervention
Critics of multiculturalism often debate whether the multicultural ideal of benignly co-existing cultures that interrelate and influence one another, and yet remain distinct, is sustainable, paradoxical, or even desirable. It is argued that Nation states, who would previously have been synonymous with a distinctive cultural identity of their own, lose out to enforced multiculturalism and that this ultimately erodes the host nations' distinct culture.
Affirmative Action in America
Since the case of Regents of the University of California v.Bakke in 1978, several Supreme Court cases have revisited questions of affirmative action in higher education. The majority of these cases have limited universities' abilities to incorporate race into admissions .
In 2003, the Supreme Court heard the case of Gratz v. Bollinger, regarding the undergraduate admissions policies of the College of Literature, Science, and Arts at the University of Michigan. The University of Michigan used a 150-point scale to rank applicants, with 100 points needed to guarantee admission. The University gave underrepresented ethnic groups, including African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans an automatic 20-point bonus on the scale. As a point of comparison, a perfect SAT score was worth 12 points. After being denied admission, Jennifer Gratz filed suit on the basis that the University of Michigan's point system discriminated against her on the basis of race, as she belonged to none of the specified minority groups. The Supreme Court held that the university could still consider race in college admissions, but that the University of Michigan's ranking and point system was unconstitutional because it gave an automatic point increase to all racial minorities rather than considering what a specific individual could contribute to campus life.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule again on affirmative action in the upcoming term in the case of Fisher v. University of Texas. The case is brought by Abigail Fisher after she was denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin. UT Austin guarantees admission to the top 10% of students in every high school class, regardless of race. Fisher was not in the top 10% and was therefore evaluated based on her merits. She contends that race plays too great of a role in the decision making for students outside of the 10% rule.
The Supreme Court Building
Since Bakke in 1978, the Supreme Court has slowly been limiting the types of affirmative action programs that are deemed constitutional.