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Reflections on Race: Affirmative Action Policies Influencing Higher Education in France

and the United States
by Saran Donahoo - 2008

Background/Context: Although frequently associated with the United States, affirmative action is not a uniquely American
social policy. Indeed, 2003 witnessed review and revision of affirmative action policies affecting higher education institutions in
both France and the United States. Using critical race theory (CRT) as a theoretical lens, this text compares the affirmative
action programs and lawsuits litigated in both nations in 2003 and their impact on the educational and social experiences of
people who are racially or culturally non-White.

Purpose: This article examines and compares affirmative action policies and lawsuits directed at higher education in France and
the United States. Faced with similar challenges, controversies, and racial concerns, these courts offered somewhat diverging
opinions on the purpose, meaning, and impact that affirmative action policies should have in this millennium.

Research Design: This article employs legal hermeneutics, a specific form of documentary analysis, to examine affirmative
action policies and related court decisions recently issued in both France and the United States. U.S. court decisions such as
Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) and affirmative action program self-study reports published by L’institut d’etudes politiques, or
Sciences Po, serve as the primary sources for the text.

Conclusions: The 2003 rulings in both France and the United States provide the legal impetus needed for affirmative action
programs to continue. However, none of the court decisions or programs on either side of the Atlantic makes any real attempt to
address the larger racial issues that created the need for affirmative action from the start. With the exception of the limited
use allowed in affirmative action programs, all forms of diversity in the United States have basically the same value and,
accordingly, have virtually same impact on social arrangements. Likewise, France accepted the CEP (Conventions éducation
prioritaire [Priority Convention Education]) program as an affirmative action measure while giving no thought to the need to
reform the overall ideology of the nation, which dictates that all citizens are French and no forms of heterogeneity exist. In
essence, the affirmative actions programs upheld in these court rulings fail to enforce the equality principles imparted in the
French and U.S. constitutions by inhibiting discussion and deconstruction of racial inequalities.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AT HOME AND ABROAD

In 2003, two national-level courts provided updated interpretations of affirmative action policies affecting higher education.
AlthoughWhile much attention focused on the Supreme Court’s decisions in Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) and Grutter v. Bollinger
(2003), the U. S.United States was not the only country to revisit this issue. In November of that same year, a Paris court also
ruled on the validity of a program designed to increase the number of low-income (immigrant) students who enroll in L’institut
d’etudes politiques, or Sciences Po, an elite postsecondary school in France focused on the social sciences (Bollag, 2003;
Gentleman, 2003). Faced with similar challenges, controversies, and racial concerns, these courts offered somewhat diverging
opinions on the purpose, meaning, and impact that affirmative action policies should have in this millennium.

Focusing on affirmative action (la discrimination positive or accès à l’égalité)1 in higher education, this article examines and
compares racial policies in the United StatesU. S. and France. Usingtilizing cCritical rRace tTheory (CRT) as a theoretical lens, this
text charts the changes that have taken place in French and American societies that led to greater demands for racial equality
and educational access. Despite differences in social structure, affirmative action programs in both countries have and continue to
follow similar patterns. AlthoughWhile the French and American courts offered divergent opinions on the use of race in college
admissions, these rulings and the programs scrutinized by these decisions helped to establish and endorse comparable limitations
on the rights exercised by people of color.

This article is divided into four sections. The first section provides a brief overview of CRT, the overarching racial paradigms that
exist in France and the United StatesU. S., and the influence that all of these ideologies have on affirmative action, especially
within the realm of higher education. The next section outlines the structure of the French higher education system, with special
attention to the elite status accorded to the Grandes Écoles. Following this description of France’s postsecondary schools, the
article directly compares affirmative action programs focused on higher education in both nations by discussing why and how
these policies became necessary in each, by outlining the policies featured in the 2003 lawsuits, and by explicating the outcomes
of those court rulings. Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) and Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) provide the current standards and structure for the
use of race in U. S. higher education. Given that the French court decision resolved the case without offering any commentary on
the program in question, this article usestilizes reports published by Sciences Po to accurately depict and analyze the nature of
affirmative action currently operating in France.

Although increasingly limited in scope, affirmative action programs occupy a unique place in the racial structures2 operating in
both France and the United StatesU. S. In both nations, these programs help to protect wWhite privilege by providing a limited
pathway that, which allows a few non-wWhites to succeed in what continue to be racially hostile environments. The existence of
this pathway supports wWhite privilege by generating individual role models who make it appear as though racial discrimination
and bias no longer affect social arrangements because some people of color can and have attained educational, social, and

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economic success. Since the 1970s, racial policies in both countries have used affirmative action and the quest for individual
success to direct attention away from the existence of, and social limitations attached to, race. The court rulings of 2003 are only
the latest revisions assisting in the effort to prevent lasting and effective resolution to racial inequities and inequalities.

CRITICAL RACE THEORY AND HIGHER EDUCATION ACCESS

Rooted in legal analysis, cCritical rRace tTheory (CRT) provides a useful means for interrogating affirmative action as conceived
and applied in France and the United StatesU. S. Indeed, CRT is an offshoot of critical legal studies that seeks to delineate how
race and its corollaries influence individual freedom and intellectual thought (Crenshaw , Goanda, Peller, & Thomaset al., 1996;
Delgado & Stefancic, 2000; Love, 2004; Tate, 1997). Additionally, CRT is also valuable in evaluating affirmative action policies
directed at higher education because this theory helps to highlight the intersections between racial discrimination, access to
property, and the exercise of civil rights, which serve as key issues in debates about these policies (Delgado, 1991; Harris, 1993;
Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995). In doing so, CRT offers a realistic depiction of the true structure and impact of affirmative action,
while also exposing the way that these policies help to sustain the social, economic, and political mechanisms of racism, which
also serve to maintain racial and cultural oppression around the world.

Although divergent, the political ideals that govern social arrangements in the U. S.United States and France both mandate the
need for and weaken the impact of affirmative action policies. Born out of European colonialism, the United StatesU. S. has
always been aware of its religious, cultural, and racial diversity. Facing this multifaceted heterogeneity, the Founding Fathers
usedtilized liberalism to emphasize human equality, religious toleration, and individual rights as a way of unifying the people into
one nation (Barry, 2001; Dagger, 1997; Kymlicka, 1995; Smith, 1997; Spinner, 1994). This devotion to individualism makes it
difficult to recognize or address all of the manifestations of racial and cultural discrimination because everyone is different
(Guinier & Torres, 2002). Conversely, as initiated during the Napoleonic Era, French Republicanism creates forced homogeneity by
casting all inhabitants as French, while also denying the heterogeneous elements that exists within French culture (Banton, 2001;
Osborn , Broadfoot, Planel, & Pollardet al., 1997). As such, individual differences do not matter because all are French.

Essentially, the prevailing social ideologies operating in both France and the U. S.United States dictate the need for affirmative
action policies by ignoring the racial and cultural issues that construct and perpetuate oppression throughout these societies. In
the United StatesU. S., affirmative action helps to counter the impact of excessive attention to difference by recognizing that
oppression affects individuals based on homogeneous characteristics such as racial, gender, or cultural groupings (Kymlicka, 1995;
Young, 1995). Similarly, affirmative action efforts in France provide an avenue for making French equality available to the
marginalized citizens of that nation by first revealing the social differences that exists among its people (Banton, 2001). In this
way, affirmative action helps to craft a more realistic view of racial and cultural arrangements in both of these countries by
illustrating the fallacies of subscribing to a completely heterogeneous or homogeneous view of either society.

However, affirmative action has not resolved all of the discrimination issues affecting either France or the United StatesU. S. In
America, affirmative action helps to sustain inequality by relying on liberalism and the language of individual rights to address
problems that affect citizens on the basis of group affiliations. Although affirmative action programs have helped some people of
color to achieve educationally, economically, and socially, these programs have had virtually no impact on the overall system of
racial oppression in the United StatesU. S. that uses the curtain of individual rights to shield the group advantages that individual
wWhite citizens enjoy as a result of subjugating non-wWhites (Guinier & Torres, 2002; Harris, 1993; Young, 1995). Similarly,
attempts to address racial and cultural inequities in France have also attained only limited success because French rRepublicanism
continues to prevent widespread attention to or redress of any issue that exposes the differences among the French citizenry.
Indeed, the basic structure of French law obstructs even minimal efforts to analyze the extent of racial inequality in France. Since
1972, any French citizen or resident has had the right to change any part of his or her name “to make it appear French if that
name constitutes a hindrance to his or her integration” (Banton, 2001, p. 153). At the same time, France has also strictly
prohibited the recording and storage of data revealing the racial, political, philosophical, or religious beliefs of any resident since
1978 (Banton, 2001; Polakow-Suransky, 2004). Taken in combination, both of these French laws minimize the effectiveness of
affirmative action programs in that country by making them appear to be unnecessary, because since it is virtually impossible to
identify or account for all of the people experiencing racial and cultural oppression in France. In essence, affirmative action in
both France and the United StatesU. S. cannot achieve significant success because these policies and programs have grown out of,
and continue to function as, mechanisms of the underlying socio-political systems that made these measures necessary in the first
place (Banton, 2001; Crenshaw, 2000; Delgado, 1991; Harris, 1993).

CRT helps to rectify some of the shortcomings embedded in both American lLiberalism and French rRepublicanism. The basic
elements of CRT applicable to affirmative action as constructed in France and the United StatesU. S. include: h

Highlighting the centrality of race and racial issues and their influence on social arrangements;, s
Seeking to reveal, challenge, and overturn laws and policies that promote racial oppression;, and
fFocusing attention on empowering the victims of racial injustice to overcome its impact. (Crenshaw, 2000; Harris, 1993; Ladson-
Billings & Tate, 1995; Tate, 1997).

Usingtilizing CRT as a theoretical lens provides recognition of the fact that racial oppression is grounded in both individualism and
group classifications. In doing so, CRT serves as a useful tool for examining affirmative action in France and the United StatesU. S.
because this theoretical model clearly reveals that founding a society on either extreme difference or the complete absence of
diversity does not prevent or resolve inequality.

Moreover, CRT also expands the discourse on affirmative action by providing a direct link to the property interests related to race
and the influence that the overarching themes of power and ownership have on the effectiveness of remedies directed at racial
and cultural inequality. As a concept, affirmative action threatens the existence of wWhiteness as property by offering the racially
and culturally marginalized an opportunity to gain access to and ownership of education, employment, and other forms of
“property” previously reserved exclusively for wWhites (Harris, 1993). However, operating under the influence of either American
lLiberalism or French rRepublicanism, affirmative action programs also serve as protectorates of wWhite privilege and the special
advantages that accompany this racial status by limiting the impact of these remedies to only a few members of any oppressed

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people (Banton, 2001; Crenshaw, 2000; Delgado, 1991; Harris, 1993). Applied to education, especially postsecondary schools, CRT
illustrates that affirmative action policies have the power to help a limited number of the racially marginalized to transcend the
full oppression of wWhiteness by increasing their social and human capital without changing the overall system of wWhite
privilege that prevents the equal redistribution of property in either French or American society (Banton, 2001; Harris, 1993).

FRENCH HIGHER EDUCATION STRUCTURE

The property concerns surrounding wWhite privilege and education influence postsecondary institutions in both France and the
United StatesU. S. Although each contains some similar elements, the French and AmericanU. S. higher education systems are not
necessarily equal. In America, each state retains the right to set and enforce educational policies that fit itstheir individual needs.
Conversely, France is a unitary system in whichwhere the national government sets and maintains education policy through Le
Ministère de la Jeunesse, de l’Education nationale, et de la Recherche (Ministry of Youth, Education, and Research;) (
Comparative Aanalysis, 2002). The tradition of strong national control means that the French system is more uniform and
consistent. Indeed, all French students receive the same secondary credential— – Le Baccalauréat (Le Bac)—, which is the exit
exam that has served as the national diploma since 1808 (“Education in France,” part 2, 2005). Likewise, the value and work
required to obtain postsecondary degrees in France is generally the same at every institution (Comparative aAnalysis, 2002).

In another parallel to the United StatesU. S., postsecondary institutions in France primarily provide credentials at three levels.
Similar to the aAssociate’s dDegree, the Premier cCycle requires two years of study beyond Le Bac. Premier cCycle credentials
such as Diplôme d’études universitaires de technologie (DUT) and Diplôme d’études universitaires scientifiques et techniques
(DEUST) prepare students to go directly to work. Others, such as Diplôme d’études universitaires générales (DEUG) and Classes
préparatoires aux Grandes Écoles (CPGE), serve as gateway credentials leading to the study of more advanced college curricula
(Comparative aAnalysis, 2002).

The Deuxième cCycle requires years of study that resemble the bBachelor’s dDegree in the United StatesU. S. This cycle requires
students to take 1–2one to two years of additional study beyond the Premier cCycle. Credentials awarded at this level include the
Licence, which requires 3three years of study after the completion of Le Bac and serves as a postsecondary endpoint for many
French college students. Students can also earn a Maîtrise after 4four years of postsecondary training post-Le Bac. Much like many
mMaster’s dDegree programs in America, a Maîtrise may also include a thesis requirement (Comparative aAnalysis, 2002).

The highest level of postsecondary education in France, the Troisième cCycle, includes credentials that mandate at least 5five +
years of study after the completion of Le Bac. Most of the diplomas offered at this level are terminal degrees. Diplôme d’études
approfondies (DEA) is 1one- year of preparatory study, which is mandatory for students interested in pursuing a doctorate. The
French doctorate itself requires 2–5two to five years of research and the completion of a successful thesis defense after the DEA.
Unlike most American graduate programs, doctoral studies in France do not necessarily require students to obtain a Maîtrise prior
to enrollment (Comparative aAnalysis, 2002).

The unitary education system operating in France certifies that all students receive the same training at all levels, and the
degrees provided at the college level are equal across institutions. In addition, the government control also limits the different
types of universities that operate in that country. WhereasWhile the United StatesU. S. has several different types of
postsecondary schools, including 2two-year, 4four-year, for-profit, and online colleges, France operates a more simplistic system
that contains clearly defined universities that resemble American research institutions in size (mass education), and the Grandes
Écoles and other professional schools that use competitive, selective admissions policies and processes. Both public and private
institutions in the United StatesU. S. charge a range of tuition and fees that vary according to degree level, academic discipline,
location, and student residency status.

Compared withto the United StatesU. S., higher education in France has a much lower cost of attendance. At public institutions,
government subsidies cover tuition and health insurance. Grant-funded private colleges and universities also use government
support to help keep student- costs low. For an academic year, U. S. students wishing to study at these institutions in France pay
fees ranging from $125 to $750, with the possibility of an additional $430– to $860 to cover health insurance. Much like their U. S.
counterparts, independent private institutions in France have relatively high- costs of attendance. Although French citizens do
have access to distance education, continuing education, and non-traditional student programs, all of these programs fall within
the purview of traditional French institutions rather than developing additional, more specialized schools (Cultural Services of the
French Embassy, n.d.; Peraya, 2000).

LES GRANDES ÉCOLES

The Grandes Écoles are a unique form of institution found only in the French educational system (Bright, 1998). The earliest of
these institutions, École d’Artillerie (Artillery), École du Génie Militaire (Military Genius), École des Ponts et Chaussées (Bridges
and Roads), and École des Mines (Mines), opened between 1720 and 1780 (Millot, 1981). Compared withto most higher education
institutions in the U. S.United States, the Grandes Écoles are much more specialized, choosing to offer training in a limited
number of subjects and disciplines at each campus (Lewis, 1985; Millot, 1981). As described by Lewis (1985), the five categories of
Grandes Écoles include science, mechanics, and military applications; business and commerce studies; architecture; law and civil
administration; and miscellaneous institutions, such as those providing instruction in veterinary surgery, journalism, or translation.
For example, L’institut d’études politiques (IEP), commonly known as Sciences Po, specializes in national and international
studies. These programs, which prepare students to go on to elite careers in business, politics, or civil service; like Jacques
Chirac, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and Christian Dior are among, and other the well-known alumni (Bollag, 2003; Gentleman, 2003).
Unlike the typical American university, the Grandes Écoles generally focus on preparing all of their students to work in a particular
sector and, therefore, maintain more deliberate links to the professional realm (Lewis, 1985; Millot, 1981).

Similar to other universities in France, the Grandes Écoles require students to earn Le Bac before applying for admission. In
addition, many of these institutions also administer Le Concours to measure knowledge in subject areas that are relevant to the
disciplines taught at the schools (Lewis, 1985; Vars & Bowen, 1998).3 Students who intend to go on to the Grandes Écoles often
enroll in the classes préparatoires des grandes écoles (CPGE) before leaving secondary school. In response to growing demands for

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higher education access in France, the number of CPGE courses available increased by 400% between 1961 and 1983 as more
students made an effort to gain admission to the nation’s top postsecondary schools (Lewis, 1985).

AlthoughWhile difficult to get into, the Grandes Écoles continue to be the skeleton key to social, political, and economic mobility
in France. To their credit, the Grandes Écoles succeed in graduating 90%–-98% of the students who they enroll (Millot, 1981). After
earning their credentials, Grandes Écoles graduates also enjoy special advantages in obtaining employment because of due to the
strong relationship between businesses and the Grandes Écoles that, which has allowed these institutions to maintain educational
dominance in France for more than two centuries. From the very beginning, the Grandes Écoles have responded quickly and
successfully to changing professional and industrial needs. Indeed, the primary mission of many of these institutions is to fulfill
the personnel and professional requirements of the industries in which most of their students will eventually work (Lewis, 1985;
Rhoades, 1983). Although the education ministry attempted to make other French universities more responsive to business needs
by adding the labor- market- aligned Maîtrise to the Deuxième cCycle in 1976, such reforms have had little impact on the
perceived value of the Grande École credential (Rhoades, 1983). Indeed, the fact that other French universities provide training in
some of the same academic and professional degree areas as the Grandes Écoles has done little to alter hiring patterns
becausesince both government agencies and private-sector industries still prefer employees who graduate from the elite schools
(Lewis, 1985).

Despite population growth and the increased demand for higher education access, enrollments at the Grandes Écoles remain
relatively small and continue to range from 5,000 to 15,000 students (Millot, 1981). Although more students prepare for and seek
admission to these elite institutions, the campuses themselves remain relatively exclusive (Bright, 1998; Cheurfa & Tiberj, 2001;
Lewis, 1985; Millot, 1981; Rhoades, 1983). Exemplified by Sciences Po and the three other Grandes Écoles located in Paris, these
institutions have actually become less accessible over the years; since students from working-class backgrounds made up 29% of
the enrollment on the Parisian campuses in 1950, but only 9% of the student population at these same schools in 1997 (Bright,
1998). AlthoughWhile many praise the Grandes Écoles for their responsiveness to changing social and professional needs (Lewis,
1985), this needs-oriented approach to higher education had little influence on student access and enrollment until 2001.

CHANGING DEMANDS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. S. AND FRANCE

Higher education participation and access in both the United StatesU. S. and France have significantly expanded since the mid-
20th century. Prior to the 1950s, only a small percentage of the population in either nation chose, or had the opportunity to gain,
any formal postsecondary schooling. Up until that time, the economics of each country made it possible for most of their citizens
to earn a living wage without investing in a college education (Amott & Matthaei, 1991; Bowen & Bok, 1998; Cohen, 1998; Garnier
& Raffalovich, 1984). Likewise, educational and social policies operating in the two nations also helped to limit postsecondary
participation. In the United StatesU. S., federal, state, and institutional discrimination policies made it difficult for women,
minorities, and the poor and working classes to pursue or complete a college degree (Bowen & Bok, 1998; Cohen, 1998). In
France, the national tracking system prevented many students from obtaining the secondary schooling needed to sit for Le Bac. In
1882, France made primary school “free, secular, and compulsory” (Valls-Russell, 2000, p. 17). Even so, approximately half of all
French students left school without earning their elementary school credential prior to 1900 (certificat d’etudes primaries), and
while only about 25% went on to the secondary level. By 1954, 74.8% of male students and 78.6% of female students went on to
complete at least complete primary school (Garnier & Raffalovich, 1984). Ending their primary school careers at age 11, students
seeking to further their education either went on to vocational training or matriculated into secondary schools with the
assumption that the latter would eventually lead to college (Garnier & Raffalovich, 1984; Lewis, 1985). The fact tThat vocational
training required a smaller investment of both time and financial resources helped to ensure that very few impoverished or
economically disadvantaged students selected the upper track (Garnier & Raffalovich, 1984; Millot, 1981).

Following World War II, the advent of mass higher education influenced access patterns at colleges and universities in both
countries. Hoping to avoid another post-war economic downturn, the U. S. federal government significantly expanded college
participation, ( especially among students from the working class,) through the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (GI Bill),
which provided financial support for returning veterans to go to college rather than to immediately flood the American workforce
(Cohen, 1998). Court decisions such as Sipuel v. Board of Regents (Oklahoma; ) (1948), Brown v. Board of Education (1954), and
Meredith v. Fair (1962) further expanded higher education access by overturning racial segregation in college admissions
(Donahoo, in press2006). Moreover, the rising Cold War with the Soviet Union also led to increased national interests in
usingtilizing postsecondary schools to conduct research, produce new technologies, and serve as conduits in preparing more
Americans to become math and science professionals (Cohen, 1998).

Economics also played a role in the mass higher education movement in France. In response to a depression in the late 19th
century, the state established control over porcelain, shipbuilding, and most other industries of national importance to monitor
and maintain the country’s economic health. Indeed, France repeatedly changed its national economic approach each time that
existing policies appeared to be inadequate or ineffective. As a result, the French economy did not truly feel the full impact of
the Great Depression until 1931 (Dobbin, 1993). At the same time, France also changed its national view of education to help
sustain its economic efforts. The primary school dropout rate among French students began a steady decline after 1910, with the
greatest decreases taking place during the first few years following World War I as the nation shifted away from an agrarian-
focused economy (Garnier & Raffalovich, 1984). In accordance with this trend, the attendance and completion of primary
education became universal in France just before World War II (Millot, 1981).

Although general educational access improved, the rise of universal primary education created new conflicts within the French
schools (Garnier & Raffalovich, 1984; Millot, 1981; Osgood, 1966; Premfors, 1984). Whereasile American higher education focused
on increasing access by implementing anti-discrimination policies centered on race and gender, France’s Fifth Republic faced
student uprisings centered onaround the lingering conflicts between economic classes (Bright, 1998; Garnier & Raffalovich, 1984;
Millot, 1981). Increased interests in attending both the lycée and the university accompanied the emergence of universal primary
schooling. The government helped to make lycée attendance more attractive by ending the practice of charging tuition at these
institutions in 1945 (Valls-Russell, 2000). However, many of the primary schools, (especially those located outside of Paris,) had to
update their curricula because, since these schools did not have a history of sending or preparing many of their students to
matriculate to the lycées (Garnier & Raffalovich, 1984; Millot, 1981). Likewise, greater enrollment also created teacher shortages

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in the lycées, forcing many schools to lower their standards and hire teachers who did not possess all of the traditional credentials
(Garnier & Raffalovich, 1984; Osgood, 1966).

Furthermore, the pressure to expand college access led to significant changes to the century- and- a- half- old Le Bac, including
six different revisions between 1945 and 1959, and the complete abandonment of the first part of the exam in 1965 (Osgood,
1966). The changes to Le Bac have significantly increased the number of students earning high school diplomas in France; as the
pass rate went from 20% of 18–-20- year- old students in 1970 to 62% in 1999 (Valls-Russell, 2000). Conversely, wealthy families and
academic elites usedtilized their influence to slow progress toward universal higher education by maintaining and increasing the
postsecondary admissions requirements, especially for the highly- selective Grandes Écoles (Millot, 1981; Osgood, 1966; Rhoades,
1983). Indeed, the Grandes Écoles escaped much of the educational reforms that took place in France from the 1960s through the
early 1980s becausesince the government gave exemptions to these institutions (Bright, 1998; Rhoades, 1983). Similar to selective
private and public institutions in the U. S.United States, government attempts to increase higher education participation had little
impact on the Grandes Écoles because such efforts did not change the paradigms operating on these campuses.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION POLICIES AND LITIGATION

In both France and the U. S.United States, increased demands for educational access also brought to light the continued existence
of other social inequities resulting from and related to educational disparities. Accordingly, the inability of the French and
American governments to establish racial equality in and through education during the 1960s and 1970s helped to create the need
for affirmative action policies in both countries.

AMERICAN AND FRENCH POLICIES

Affirmative action programs directed at higher education in France and the U. S.United States follow different paths to achieve
some common objectives. In the United StatesU. S., affirmative action has been primarily top-down, with guidelines coming from
the government and the courts to directing the policy options available to colleges and universities. Launched in the 1960s, U. S.
affirmative action programs initially focused on improving the employment and educational access available to African Americans,
women, and other groups traditionally targeted by discriminatory laws and social practices. Over the years, the structures of
affirmative action programs in the United StatesU. S. have ranged from alternate admissions procedures and full or partial tuition
assistance to little or no consideration of the influence that racial, social, or cultural oppression may have had on educational
preparation and other pre-college experiences (Brown & Donahoo, 2003). Regardless of the interests expressed by postsecondary
institutions, both the structure and targets of these programs have always been restricted according to the priorities championed
by various levels of government.

Conversely, the institutions themselves initiated the limited foray into social equality operating in France’s Grandes Écoles
(Conley, 20003; Labi, 2005; Sciences Po, 2004). Indeed, these institutions had to develop programs on their own becausesince
French laws exempted them from many of the socially conscious policies directed at other higher education facilities to address
the needs of the French masses (Bright, 1998; Rhoades, 1983). The oldest and most well-known of these programs, the
Conventions éducation prioritaire (CEP) program at Sciences Po, began in 2001 after a study revealed that the traditional
structure of the Grandes Écoles is highly discriminatory against economically disadvantaged and culturally diverse students
(Cheurfa & Tiberj, 2001; Conley, 2003). The CEP program recruits high school students from “priority education zones” (ZEP) in
metropolitan Paris and Lorraine that are heavily populated by low-income and recent immigrant families. Similar to the customary
admissions process, the CEP applicants are evaluated based on their transcripts and scores obtained on Le Bac. Yet, unlike other
perspective Sciences Po students, CEP students are not required to take the rigorous competitive entrance exams (Le Concours)
because neither the students nor their high schools can afford the expensive preparation courses. To address this limitation, the
CEP provides students with an alternative test in the form of an intensive 45-minute presentation and interview session with
special committees made up of faculty and alumni of Sciences Po. Once on campus, CEP students continue to receive services,
including a 1one-month orientation program during their first semester, and along with counseling and peer mentoring throughout
their tenure as students (Conley, 2003; Labi, 2005; Sciences Po, 2002, 2003). In spite of changes to the admissions process,
Sciences Po has maintained its characteristically high- level of selectivity even in the CEP process, becausesince only 15%– to 19%
of the programs’ applicants ultimately get accepted into the institution (Sciences Po, 2003).

In addition to structural variations, American and French affirmative action efforts also differ in whom they choose to target.
American programs generally focus on redressing the inequalities established and maintained for several years by laws that
prevented women and people of color from qualifying for admission or employment at most mainstream higher education
institutions (Amott & Matthaei, 1991; Brown & Donahoo, 2003; Greenberg, 2002; Spann, 2000). As such, race and gender have
always been linked to the politics of education and economics in the United States. S. This is not the case in France. Although
gender segregated well into the mid- 20th century, French schools have been open to women since the 19th century (Garnier &
Raffalovich, 1984; Valls-Russell, 2000). Unlike American slave laws, the Code Noir enacted in France and its colonies encouraged
masters to educate their slaves in order to make them good Catholics (Funke, 1920).4 Moreover, the French rRepublican identity
championed since the early days of the Fifth Republic has always effectively prevented race from becoming a prominent social or
political concern (Banton, 2001; Garnier & Raffalovich, 1984; Valls-Russell, 2000). Consequently, affirmative action programs in
France focus on addressing educational inequities among economically disadvantaged students, many of whom just also happen to
be immigrants or the offspring of immigrants from African nations. During its short time of operation, students who ethnically or
culturally identify themselves with African countries have dominated the CEP program, accounting for more than 70% of the
students admitted through its alternative admissions process from 2002 to- 2005. Moreover, Algerians have the greatest rate of
participation, at 32.9% during the same period (Sciences Po, 2004). Similar to the United StatesU. S., economic disadvantage in
France is also inextricably linked to race, ethnicity, and culture.

LITIGATING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Despite their frequent intersections, the relationships between race/ethnicity, economics, and education receive very little
attention within affirmative action policies. However, it is the overlap of these interests that has led to lawsuits challenging the

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existence and application of affirmative action programs. In the United StatesU. S., several cases, including Regents of the
University of California v. Bakke (1978), Podberesky v. Kirwan (1992), Hopwood v. Texas (1996), Gratz v. Bollinger (2003), and
Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), have challenged the use of affirmative action policies by postsecondary schools. Being the first
program of its kind, the CEP has faced a similar reception in France. In both nations, the lawsuits questioned the validity of
applying affirmative action programs to higher education, contending that such measures violate equality principles contained in
both the American and French constitutions.

SUCCESS IN THE COURTS

In 2003, the U. S. Supreme Court conducted its first judicial review of postsecondary affirmative action policies in 25 years. In
Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) and Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), (the Michigan cases), the high court reconsidered the standard
established in the Bakke decision after Caucasian students rejected by the University of Michigan accused the institution of racial
discrimination. Although the Bakke ruling made the use of quotas illegal, this case did allow the continued consideration of race
by finding that achieving a diverse campus is a compelling interest of the government and justification for such consideration
(Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 1978). Attempting to dissolve the limited usage of race provided in Bakke, the
Michigan cases challenged the consideration of race in any form that impacts admissions into undergraduate or graduate degree
programs. Generally upholding the ruling in Bakke, the Supreme Court held that race could continue to receive consideration in
the higher education admissions process provided it receives no pre-determined value and serves as one of many diversity factors
used to assess individual candidates (Gratz v. Bollinger, 2003; Grutter v. Bollinger, 2003). As such, the court nullified the use of
race in the undergraduate admissions process becausesince it received an assigned point value, but the court upheld the structure
usedtilized by the law school, which evaluates race along with a host of other factors as part of itstheir diversity efforts.

Much like the Michigan cases, the CEP program also received judicial review in 2003. Soon after the inception of the CEP, La Droite
Universitaire (the right-wing university), better known as UNI (National Interuniversity Union), sought to have the CEP declared
unconstitutional arguing that the program disrupts the merit-based exam system by giving special consideration to low-income
students (Bollag, 2003; Conley, 2003; Gentleman, 2003; Labi, 2005; Polakow-Suransky, 2004). Under the structure of the French
judicial system, UNI had its case reviewed by both the ordinary tribunals (lower courts with varying specialty areas) and the
administrative courts (which resembles upper U. S. federal system courts becausesince cases generally focus on constitutional,
procedural, and other technical matters). Contrary to the courts in the United StatesU. S., both tracks of the French justice
system can review the same case simultaneously once it enters the appeal’s process (Ministère de la justice, 2001). Even so,
usingtilizing the double-review option did little to help UNI’s case becausesince courts in both tracks upheld the legality of the
CEP program. Providing only minimal commentary on the constitutional concerns except to say that UNI’s conclusion was
incorrect, the Conseil d’Etat (Council of State), the highest administrative court, upheld the lower court rulings in favor of
Sciences Po, thus allowing CEP to continue (Bollag, 2003; Conley, 2003; Genteleman, 2003; Sciences Po, 2002). In its resolution,
the court simply required Sciences Po to make some minor revisions to the CEP, further clarifying the process, and forced the
institute to open up the program up to private schools located in the ZEP locales participating in the program (Conley, 2003;
Gentleman, 2003). Moreover, the most recent ruling also paved the way for UNI to pay Sciences Po 1,500 euros (just over $1,800)
for legal expenses as ordered by the appellate court (Sciences Po, 2002).

FAILURE IN SOCIETY

The outcomes of the cases against the University of Michigan and Sciences Po support the idea that diversity is a valid and
legitimate goal in higher education. However, in doing so, both decisions also make concessions to American lLiberalism and
French rRepublicanism by suppressing or diverting attention away from racial issues. In defending their programs, both the
University of Michigan and Sciences Po advocate the need for establishing and maintaining a socially diverse student population
(Green, 2004; Sciences Po, 2003). However, following the course initiated by the Supreme Court in the 1978 Bakke decision, these
institutions use the term “diversity” to both indirectly refer to, and simultaneously draw attention away from, race. Upholding
this dual definition of diversity, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s majority opinion in the Grutter case asserteds, “that 25 years from
now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the [diversity] interest approved today” (Grutter v.
Bollinger, 2003, p. 2347). O’Connor’s deadline is both arbitrary and ahistorical becausesince it fails to take into account the fact
that neither 49 years of federally mandated school desegregation as presented in the Brown decision nor 135 years of
constitutionally prohibited racial discrimination as outlined in the Fourteenth Amendment effectively resolved the racial issues at
the heart of the Gratz and Grutter cases. As such, the Michigan cases help to overshadow attention to race by presuming that
such characteristics have the same value and impact as alumni relationships, place of residency, and extracurricular activities
becausesince all forms of diversity are the same in the eyes of the court.

For institutions in the United StatesU. S., the reduced recognition of the impact of race on college access provided in the Michigan
decisions has also influenced their ability to enroll minority students. Comparing the freshmen classes that enrolled in 2002 and
2004 (before and after the Supreme Court published Gratz and Grutter), the University of Michigan saw a 21% decline in African
American students and a 13.4% decrease in Hispanic students. Similarly, Ohio State University also enrolled 31.3% fewer African
American students and 8.3% fewer Hispanic students during the same period. For colleges and universities in Texas, Gratz and
Grutter helped to repeal the Hopwood decision, thus restoring their ability to use affirmative action policies to effect student
enrollment. Comparing the freshmen who entered in 2002 withto those who enrolled in 2004, the University of Texas at Austin
experienced an increases of 13.6% of African American students and 1.0% of Hispanic students. Texas A&M University also
benefited by bringing in 17% more African American students and 30.3% more Hispanic students in 2004 than it had in 2002. In
contrast to Texas, the Michigan cases had no real impact on the State of California, which adopted a voter- imposed ban on
affirmative action in 1996. Still bound by Article I •31 of the California Constitution (2004), the University of California at Berkley
lost an additional 23.4% African American students and 15.2% Hispanic students even after the Supreme Court gave a minimal
endorsement to the use of affirmative action policies in higher education (Selingo, 2005).

Although French laws prevent universities from monitoring minority student enrollment in the manner usedtilized in the United
StatesU. S., CEP does exhibit similar patterns of being both affected by and disassociated from race. Similar to the Grutter
decision, Sciences Po also makes a concerted effort to diminish any connection that CEP has to racial matters by first, overtly
disregarding the racial identity of the students recruited through this process, and then, by choosing to measure diversity strictly

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in terms of national origin for CEP students and their parents (Sciences Po, 2003, 2004). Even so, the CEP program does not escape
all mention of race, because since approximately two- thirds of the students who gain access to Sciences Po through this
admissions process have at least one foreign-born parent. Of these students, more than 70% of those admitted from 2002 through
2004 came from, or have direct familial and cultural ties to, African countries, with Algeria exhibiting the greatest representation
at about a third of those born to recent immigrants. Indeed, only 16.5% of the foreign- origin students admitted during the first
3three years of the CEP program came from other European nations, with the admission class percentage declining from 35% in
2002 to a low of 8.8% in 2004 (Sciences Po, 2004). Although presented as a program to attract and assist low-income students, the
strong presence of students of foreign origins in CEP indicates that issues of economics, education, and race are so intertwined
that no country can successfully address or redress the full social disparities affecting one without attending to the whole triad.

RETAINING ELITISM

The limitations embedded within affirmative action programs significantly diminish the overall impact that these initiatives have
on the triad of economics, education, and race. Moreover, focusing the debate on some, but not all, elements of the triad also
allows affirmative action to work as a hindrance to its stated mission of removing social inequality and discrimination by shielding
elitism from criticism and scrutiny. Throughout this section, elitism refers to both the goal of pinnacle academic and intellectual
achievement and the notions of social hierarchy and exclusivity embedded in the word.5 Applying this interpretation of the term,
elitism and selectivity serve as key components in both the Michigan cases and the CEP controversy by motivating increased
competition between the varying missions championed by these institutions.

In their mission statements, both the University of Michigan and Sciences Po establish their concurrent commitments to both
elitism and public service. Founded in 1817,

The mission of the University of Michigan is to serve the people of Michigan and the world through preeminence in
creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and
citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future. (Office of the President, 2005)

Correspondingly, Sciences Po also makes a more direct connection between the public good and superiority by taking “on the
responsibility of training a merit-based elite for leadership” (Sciences Po Paris, n.d.). AlthoughWhile each institution clearly
accepts a public service role as part of its mission, each does so in a way that focuses on establishing and maintaining supremacy
and dominance for both the schools and their students. Although this standard rhetoric seeks to reassure the public that
government funds invested in these institutions will do more than just maintain the status quo, the commitment to high academic
standards verbalized as “elitism” inhibits the effectiveness of affirmative action programs becausesince the exclusivity component
of elitism seems to clash with a public service mission.

Even though public service and elitism are included in the missions of these institutions, these interests do not receive equal value
or attention. Indeed, it is the hierarchy of mission priorities that creates the need for affirmative action programs at both of these
universities and ultimately led to judicial review. According to the Grutter decision, using race as one of many diversity factors
enables the University of Michigan Law School to fulfill a public need without sacrificing central concern and attention to
selectivity and elitism. According to Justice O’Connor, the limited attention to race as one of many diversity factors allows the
uUniversity to implement “race-neutral alternatives currently capable of producing a critical mass without forcing the Law School
to abandon the academic selectivity that is the cornerstone of its educational mission” (Grutter v. Bollinger, 2003, p. 2345).
Likewise, Sciences Po also fervently champions and defends its selectivity by denying accusations that CEP or the students
admitted under this alternative process disrupt or decrease the institution’s commitment to intellectual merit and academic
excellence. Of the CEP students accepted by Sciences Po in 2003, 20% received the highest distinction of Très Bien (vVery Ggood)
on their admissions records (transcripts and Bac examination results), compared withto 11.5% of the students admitted through
the traditional process (Sciences Po, 2003). Of those admitted in 2004, 22% of CEP students received the Très Bien distinction,
compared withto only 10% of those who completed the standard examination process (Sciences Po, 2004). Exemplified by
affirmative action programs and lawsuits, elitism has and continues to outweigh interests in serving the public good. Although
diverse students are welcome at both of these highly- selective institutions, these students can only gain access to these schools if
they promote and support these selective missions without questioning the impact of this institutional goal.

Moreover, the court cases and educational missions at these institutions also illustrate that affirmative action in the new
millennium is no longer about getting basic educational access. Instead, the issue has now shifted to the influence that race,
economics, and education have on getting access to the best that society has to offer. Although often ignored, this transition in
the focus of affirmative action programs has not gone completely unnoticed. Authoring an opinion that both concurred and
dissented with the majority in Grutter, Justice Clarence Thomas asserteds that the type of elitism favored by the University of
Michigan and Sciences Po is a substantial barrier to attracting and enrolling underrepresented students. Explaining the University
of Michigan’s attachment to race-conscious affirmative action policies, Thomas declareds that “the Law School seeks to improve
marginally the education it offers without sacrificing too much of its exclusivity and elite status” (Grutter v. Bollinger, 2003, p.
2353). Essentially, CEP and other like-minded programs allow elite institutions to appear to satisfy both sides of their missions
without acknowledging that it is their attention to, desire for, and focus on elitism that makes affirmative action programs
necessary in the first place. Commonly illustrated by the racial and cultural bias associated with standardized exams or the
difficulty in comparing grades achieved at schools on both sides of the poverty line, elitism helps to drive affirmative action by
supporting an inherently unequal system. In both France and the U. S.United States, colleges and universities repeatedly usetilize
the SAT, LSAT, or Le Concours to determine the merit and academic worth of their prospective students, knowing that these exams
typically produce biased results for non-wWhite and low-income students (Jencks, 1998; Lemann, 2000; Vars & Bowen, 1998). In
actuality, Justice Thomas plainly identifieds the cyclical relationship between elitism and affirmative action, noting that
postsecondary institutions

continue to use the test[s] and then attempt to “correct” for black underperformance by using racial discrimination in
admission so as to obtain their aesthetic student body. . . [A college’s] continued adherence to measures it knows
produce racially skewed results is not entitled to deference by this Court. (Grutter v. Bollinger, 2003, pp. 2360–-2361)

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The existence of affirmative action programs within the realm of higher education signifies that institutions are clearly aware that
the system of merit and elitism upon which so much of their structure developed is flawed. Shielded by the limited access and
advantages offered to racially, culturally, and economically diverse students, the structure of affirmative action policies also helps
to protect the mechanisms that have traditionally discriminated against many by admitting these students under special
procedures rather than assessing and reforming the overall admissions process. By implementing affirmative action programs,
postsecondary schools continue to communicate to underrepresented and disadvantaged students that they are inferior without
confronting the fallacies inherent in their elitist policies. As indicated by Bowen and Bok (1998) and the academic qualifications of
the CEP students, students admitted via affirmative action programs tend to replicate the academic standards in place at the
colleges and universities that they go on to attend. Even so, the academic and eventual career success experienced by such
students prevents rather than encourages highly- selective colleges and universities from reforming policies known to limit the
access of students whom the institutions use affirmative action programs to recruit.

MIRROR ON ACCESS AND REDRESS

France and the United StatesU. S. experience similar problems in acknowledging and addressing racial discrimination and the
social, political, and economic disparities that this system helps to sustain and produce. The desire to have a unified cultural
identity has led France to completely deny the existence of race and all of the problems that accompany it. Conversely, the
United StatesU. S. recognizes race along with almost every other characteristic, thus overshadowing and limiting influential
discussion and redress of its impact on society. As such, the prevailing ideologies governing social arrangements in both nations
produce essentially the same results. Indeed, the adoption of affirmative action measures such as the CEP, coupled with the
several days of violent and destructive race riots that took place in Paris in November 2005, signifiesy that France is now traveling
the same road that the United StatesU. S. started on in 1960s. Likewise, the United StatesU. S. would do well to monitor the
situation in France as an example of the true nature and impact of colorblindness and complete disregard for race. Despite
structural differences, social and political systems in both nations continue to disadvantage people of color for having racial,
ethnic, and cultural characteristics considered incompatible with wWhiteness. Consequently, racial discrimination and disparate
treatment will continue to affect the mobility and experiences of people of color as long as race remains absent or undervalued.

Over the years, affirmative action has provedn to be both a help and hindrance in the struggle to end racial discrimination and the
marginalization of people of color. In The Shape of the River, Bowen and Bok (1998) provided definitive proof of the success
produced by affirmative action programs. Using detailed, quantitative analysis, Bowen and Bok (1998) found that students who
attained access to highly- selective institutions as a result of race-conscious policies not only succeeded in school, but also in life,
often making contributions to society and the public good that often exceeded those of their wWhite counterparts. In doing so,
these students helped to fulfill the public service mission of their institutions by using their education to benefit both themselves
and others. Their early academic success indicates that the small number of students admitted through CEP will very likely have a
similar impact on France.

Affirmative action also functions as a hindrance to social justice for those who are the racial “other” by helping to mask wWhite
privilege. Allowing a small number of non-wWhites to attend elite universities and experience economic success inhibits
identification of the true nature and impact of wWhiteness. These role models help to protect wWhite privilege and elitism by
illustrating that the system does reward those who abide by its rules, regardless of race. In some cases, those who achieve success
through affirmative action actually work hardest to close the door to others by publicly challenging these programs and denying
the impact that these mechanisms had in their own success (Crenshaw, 2000). However, the racism experienced by wealthy and
well-known African Americans repeatedly illustrates that, much like attendance at elite institutions, freedom from racial
discrimination is available for lease only, not permanent ownership. Essentially, race always has the power and potential toof
limiting the rights and opportunities open to non-Wwhites. In France, immigrant status and heritage consistently establish non-
wWhites as non-French. AlthoughWhile many people of color in the United StatesU. S. have been in the country long enough to
discard or simply outgrow their immigrant identities, the physical and cultural markers of race affords them only second-class
citizenship status. In practice, this second-class citizenship status closely resembles a somewhat perpetual immigrant status
because since they cannot exercise all of the rights available to wWhites (Inniss, 1999). AlthoughWhile the existence of
affirmative action acknowledges the social limitations placed on people of color, the policy also prevents significant redress.

Even so, it is problematic to treat or view affirmative action programs as triumphs, failures, or measures just satisfying a
temporary need in either France or the United StatesU. S. In many ways, the systems used to assess and determine academic
merit in the United StatesU. S. and France also help to drive the need for affirmative action programs. Admissions criteria based
on standardized tests continue to use the relationship between race/ethnicity, economics, and education (especially pre-college
preparation) to erroneously assess the academic qualifications of students of all races. Despite numerous revisions, exams such as
the SAT only accurately predict college transitions and performance for 15%–-20% of all students who complete the tests and have
an even lower rate of success in predicting the performance of minority students (Bowen & Bok, 1998). The fact tThat Sciences Po
needed to create CEP suggests that Le Concours produces similar results for ethnically diverse students seeking college access in
France. As the success of the CEP illustrates, standardized exams are not the only way to determine merit or academic readiness
for college admission. Likewise, the CEP also demonstrates that standardized tests are also not the only way for an institution can
to remain a highly -selective. However, institutions will continue to need affirmative action programs to diversify their student
enrollments as long as they choose to rely on these exams to identify potentially successful college students.

Although affirmative action programs decrease the negative effects of standardized testing, neither nation has achieved a high
enough level of success in overcoming its race problem to ensure that students will receive access to highly- selective colleges and
universities if these programs do not exist. Supporting the racial paradigms operating in both nations, the affirmative action
decisions in France and the United StatesU. S. suggests that it is wrong to use these programs to assist students on the basis of
race. Despite its continuing impact on social arrangements and opportunities, elite institutions have an increasingly difficult time
accepting or promoting initiatives that directly consider race (Carnevale & Rose, 2004; Eckes, 2004; Greenberg, 2002; Orfield &
Miller, 1998). In its place, some advocate directing more attention to offering assistance to students from low-income families
(Carnevale & Rose, 2004; Kahlenberg, 2004). This approach appears to be more appealing than race because poverty is a result of
factors other than unchangeable genetic characteristics, and it is much easier to convince the public of the benefits that both
students and the nation would receive in return for this special support. Indeed, the CEP program implemented at Sciences Po

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attempts to do just that by targeting students who live in high- poverty areas in and around Paris. As evidenced by the high
proportion of non-wWhite participants, the structure of the CEP allows Sciences Po to both capitalize on and deny the relationship
between poverty and race. However, ignoring racial issues has not hindered the spread or impact of racial discrimination. Similar
to non-wWhites in the United StatesU. S., minorities living in France face rampant job discrimination, have four times the national
rate of unemployment, and continue to experience housing and school segregation (Polakow-Suransky, 2004). Moreover, the race
riots and civil unrest that began in areas heavily populated by poor, minority immigrants in November 2005 further illustrate the
consequences for disregarding racial concerns (Burns & Mongodin, 2005). Even thoughIn spite of the fact that government records
and rhetoric regard all as French or American citizens, the lived experiences of those who are non-wWhite or of a non-European
ethnicity continue to be filled with marginalization and disparate treatment. Leaving the race question off of job applications and
admissions forms, discarding overtly ethnic and religious clothing, or changing a name to appear to be more “like everyone else”
does not prevent the identification of race. In both France and the United StatesU. S., the overlap between race and economics
often allows place of residence, birth, and education to answer the race question without it ever being asked. Accordingly, both
nations will need affirmative action as long as race continues to be as simple as finding a place on a map.

Notes

1 Although both la discrimination positive (positive discrimination) and accès à l’égalité (access to equality) generally refer to the
same types of programs, they do not share exactly the same meaning. From a political standpoint, la discrimination positive has a
distinctly negative connotation similar to that attached to “reverse discrimination” in the United States. The alternate term,
accès à l’égalité, seeks to attain a more favorable political and social reaction by focusing attention on the overall goal and
potential benefits for society as a whole, thus directing attention away from perceptions of unfairness and the individual
advantages that result from participating in these types of programs. See Banton (2001), Clabaugh (1995), and Polakow-Suransky
(2004).

2 In both France and the United States, the term race is problematic: Although it is in everyday use, the word itself generally
lacks a clear, consistent definition. In the United States, visible characteristics such as skin color, hair texture and style, and
wardrobe serve as the basis of how we identify and categorize race. Conversely, race in France is closely tied to ethnicity, culture,
and national origin. Recognizing that these two definitions are similar, yet not the same, this article defines race as a biological,
social, and political construct under which physical and cultural differences significantly influence political, economic, and social
power, relationships, and interactions. Whereas the physical and biological elements remain relatively permanent, the other
elements of the construct are much more malleable. As an educational policy, affirmative action uses the biological and social
features of race to improve the economic and social interactions and experiences of racially marginalized groups. See Banton
(1998).

3 Translated as “contest” or “competition” in English, Le Concours are the rigorous and competitive admissions exams that
students take to get into selective institutions in France. See Cheurfa and Tiberj (2001).

4 That slaves held under the dominion of the French were not expressly forbidden to learn to read and write as found in the
American slave laws sometimes leads to the erroneous conclusion that French slavery was somehow more humane. French
republicanism also helped to suppress, or at least closet, much of the lingering racial issues surrounding the French slave system.
See Chatman (2000).

5 On the one hand, affirmative action challenges elitism by opening doors to those previously excluded from participation.
Conversely, affirmative action also suffers resistance and challenges based on the argument that these programs reward
academically unqualified students. By altering the racial demographic of selective and prestigious institutions, affirmative action
programs also appear to threaten intellectual superiority of these schools, thus jeopardizing the form of elitism that many
colleges would like to keep. See Justice Thomas’s concurring and dissenting opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003).

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Cite This Article as: Teachers College Record Volume 110 Number 2, 2008, p. 251-277
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