Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (438 U.S. 265) is a landmark decision about affirmative action decided in 1978 by the US Supreme Court. It upheld the lower court’s affirming that Allan Bakke should be admitted to UCD’s medical school and that racial quotas were unconstitutional but also upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be a factor in admissions policies.
Bakke argued that he had been treated unjustly, as many students with lesser credentials were admitted to the medical school and as the different standards applied racially violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. UCD’s attorneys countered that the affirmative action program was justified by a compelling state interest in creating more physicians likely to work in medically underserved areas.
Here is a chart with Bakke’s scores on the Medical College Admissions Test and his undergraduate grade point average (Overall and for Science courses), comparing those score with the scores of students admitted to UCD’s medical school under the regular process and those admitted under the affirmative action special process.
And people say there is no systemic racism. this was A plan to send what we can assume end up being some of the worst doctors to the poorest communities. And they most likely were behind due to a public school system that implements a similar policy of worst schools get the worst teachers.
“UCD’s attorneys countered that the affirmative action program was justified by a compelling state interest in creating more physicians likely to work in medically underserved areas.”
While I understand the claim, it is analogous to the “Americans won’t do agricultural harvesting jobs” claim… and that is a lie. People will wade through human waste if they are paid well… and 480,000 plumbers exist in the US… because they are paid reasonably well ($55k median wage). My point is that if society wants good physicians in underserved areas, pay physicians to go there. Remember, society pays teachers “combat pay” for working in inner city schools.