Nationwide issue debated in Henderson

Oct. 4—HENDERSON — Spectrum 1 News and the North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership began its four-week Hometown Debate Series with a discussion on affirmative action at Vance-Granville Community College on Tuesday.

A modest crowd got front-row seats to the debate in the college's Civic Center.

In June, the Supreme Court ruled in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina against UNC — declaring that the use of race in college admissions is unconstitutional. Four panelists discussed the SCOTUS decision and affirmative action, with Spectrum's Loretta Boniti moderating.

To offer a quick summary of the nationwide debate, those against affirmative action tend to say it disadvantages white and Asian-American students and creates a crutch for younger people, cultivating lesser academic excellence as a result. The other side argues that it opens doors once shut to African-Americans, who have been historically shut out of higher education and high-prestige careers.

Kenny Xu, a member of Students for Fair Admissions, founder of Color Us United, a nonprofit which advocates for a "race-blindness" and a candidate to represent NC's second congressional district, said the SCOTUS decision would allow the higher education system to be restructured around merit, as opposed to the current system, which favors "privilege, real privilege" and Black Americans.

"Along the way, we can cultivate Black excellence through other programs," said Xu.

Irving Joyner, a professor of criminal law at UNC Central and civil rights attorney, disagreed and contested the idea that the current system favors Black Americans.

George Leef, director of external relations for the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, cited California Supreme Court Stanley Mosk's opinion in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke.

"To uphold the argument for race-preferential admissions, we need to call for the sacrifice of principle for the sake of dubious expediency," said Leef, "and would represent a retreat from the struggle to assure that each man and woman shall be judged on individual merit alone, a struggle which has only lately achieved success in removing legal barriers to racial equality."

State Rep. Vernetta Alston opposed the decision, and said that the decision represents a decline in protection for protected classes. Black and Latino students are underrepresented in research universities, she said.

Xu said affirmative action has not helped Black Americans succeed in high-prestige professions. Only 5% of lawyers are Black and there are fewer male Black doctors today than there were in the 1970s, he said. He also said affirmative action has harmed Asian-Americans, which had lower chances of getting into compared to Black students with an equal GPA.

Alston responded, saying legacy and early admissions disproportionately favor white students, and wondered whether Xu considered those a form of affirmative action. Leef and Xu later agreed, and asserted that academic merit should be the sole criteria for admission. Leef noted that students admitted under those circumstances dropped out at higher rates.

Boniti asked Joyner whether "color-blind" admissions reflected American reality. Color blindness doesn't exist, he responded. Leef took the opposite position — admissions should be determined by academic merit. Immutable characteristics, such as race, don't affect academic merit, he said. Furthermore, affirmative action was a crutch — it taught young people that they don't have to try as hard as other students. Alston said affirmative action helps create opportunities for historically underrepresented communities. Xu said the UNC admissions process amounted to racism against Asian-Americans.

Joyner asserted that race was not a factor at UNC. In one year, around half of Asian-American applicants were admitted. Only 31% of African-Americans were admitted, despite that they make up a higher share of North Carolina's population — 22.2% compared to 3.6%.

Xu responded by saying that the country has a racial achievement gap — African-Americans tend to have an overall lower K-12 academic record. He wants to see an improvement in their early education so that they'll have better chances.

Leef later said that affirmative action results in students not getting to attend their college of choice due to their race. "Degrees are not destiny," he said — those attending prestigious universities may not always enter prestigious careers, and vice versa. Anyone can do anything after graduation.

Alston argued that colleges, whose staff include experts who know what their communities look like, are having their control over their own institutions rolled back. The SCOTUS decision is an example of that.

Spectrum will air the debate on Oct. 15 at 11:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m.

The last Hometown Debate before the COVID-19 Pandemic was also held at VGCC. Panelists, including then-State Rep. Terry Garrison, discussed healthcare. Garrison had filled in at the last moment for another panelist who couldn't make it. IOPL Executive Director Brad Young said that it was fitting to begin the debate series where it last ended.

They're intended to bring conversations outside the "Raleigh-Charlotte bubble" to smaller towns.

Garrison, present at the debate, shared his thoughts.

"I strongly believe affirmative action has been necessary for the advancement of persons of color into an arena that heretofore we had been excluded," said Garrison. Without it, educational and employment opportunities would likely not have occurred as quickly as they did after desegregation.