What were the original motivations for affirmative action?
[When initiated in California as early as 1964] there were at least three motives for affirmative action. The first followed from the university’s public responsibility to provide higher education, in as inclusive a way as possible, to the citizens of the state. The second followed from a social commitment to rectify discrimination against minorities and women. The third followed from an educational theory, untested in 1964 and now widely subscribed to as the result of thirty years of experiment, that a diverse and heterogeneous campus provided important educational benefits for all students. Not only would students experience a richer, more dynamic intellectual environment, but they would also learn how to negotiate their differences as members of an academic community.
