Bakke v. Regents of the University of California

In class today, we had a mock trial of Bakke v. Regents of the University of California. Bakke's claim was that the university was being racist. He also claimed that the university was violating his constitutional rights by discriminating against him because of his race. Regents argued this by saying that they are right in doing this because it helps black people not compete with white people. They claim that affirmative action helps African Americans gain equal rights and it is necessary for equality between all races. Regents started a special program to compensate for past events, such as slavery. This committee was made up of mostly minorities to achieve balance and equality for African Americans. They said that they should be allowed access to schools since their ancestors were slaves.