Tiffanie's Research Page

Topic: affirmative action in college admissions

Introduction
My research is on affirmative action programs in college admissions. Affirmative action was implemented in the late 1970’s to ensure equal access to minorities and women in jobs and education. One of my focuses was going to be the 1978 Bakke case, but I found that most of the research on affirmative action is based on its controversy (especially since the University of Michigan case) or what the program is itself. The Bakke case is relatively absent from affirmative action coverage. The audience for my research would be anyone affected by affirmative action, which is mostly individuals associated with a university or college in some way. Since I am focusing on the effect affirmative action has on college admissions, students and those involved in the academic realm would find my search most pertinent.

Keywords
UNC Library catalog
1. Affirmative action
2. affirmative action AND universities

Academic Universe Lexis-Nexis
1. Affirmative action AND colleges AND NOT The University of Michigan (guided news search—general news, major papers, previous six months).
2. Affirmative action AND college admissions (guided news search—general news, magazines and journals, previous six months).
Google search
1. affirmative action quota
2. affirmative action quota admissions

Books, Videotapes and CR-ROMs from UNC-CH libraries
Print Sources
Smith, William A. ed., Philip G. Altbach ed., and Kofi Lomotey ed. The racial crisis in
American higher education : continuing challenges for the twenty-first century. Albany : State University of New York Press, 2002. LC3731 .R255 2002.

Orfield, Gary, and Edward Miller. Chilling admissions : the affirmative action crisis and the search for alternatives. Cambridge, MA : Civil Rights Project, Harvard University : Harvard Education Pub. Group, 1998. LB2351.2 .C48 1998.

Non-paper sources
Affirmative action: the history of an idea. Dir. by Joseph Camp and produced by Ronald Bailey and Robert Schurgin. BJW, Inc. in association with New River Media. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities, 1996. Videocassette. 65-V7567.

Section III: Electronic Indexes and Databases
Bollinger, Lee C. “Diversity Is Essential.” Newsweek, 27 January 2003, 32. Database
on-line. Available from Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe <http://web.lexis- nexis.com/universe/>. [30 January 2003].

Fields-Meyer, Thomas. “Big Fight On Campus: Jennifer Gratz battles affirmative action-- with a little help from the Oval Office.” People Weekly, 3 February 2003, v59 i4 p77. Available from Infotrac Web <http://eresources.lib.unc.edu/>. [31 January 2003].

Glater, Jonathan D. “Some companies back Michigan’s affirmative action program.” The New York Times, 29 January 2003, C1(N) pC1(L). Available from Infotrac Web <http://eresources.lib.unc.edu/>. [31 January 2003].

Kantrowitz, Barbara, Pat Wingert, Vanessa Juarez and Ana Figueroa. “What's At Stake: In the competitive world of college admissions, 'fairness' is often in the eye of the beholder. Here are the facts about affirmative action.” Newsweek, 27 January 2003, 30. Database on-line. Available from Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/>. [30 January 2003].

Princeton University. “Study: Texas '10 Percent Plan' Fails to Sustain Diversity at Flagship Universities; Law Is 'Not an Alternative to Affirmative Action, Says Tienda.” Ascribe Higher Education News Service, 23 January 2003. Available from Infotrac Web <http://eresources.lib.unc.edu/>. [31 January 2003].

Schmidt, Peter. “Bush asks Supreme Court to strike down U. of Michigan's affirmative- action policy.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 24 January 2003, v49 i20 pA20(2). Database on-line. Available from Infotrac Web <http://eresources.lib.unc.edu/>. [30 January 2003].

Web Sources
Title of Web Page: U.S. Department of State: International Information Programs:
Affirmative Action
Brief Description: This can be considered the genuine “home-page” for affirmative action
information. It has the entire history of affirmative action and specific details on
the 1978 Bakke case (as well as all other court decisions and rulings dealing with
affirmative action). It also has a useful list of web sites and texts to aid research on affirmative action.
Source of Web site: U.S. Department of State's Office of International Information
Programs

Title of Web page: College Library: Undergraduate Research Guide: Affirmative Action
Brief Description: This web site serves as a research tool for finding information on
affirmative action. It has an overview of what affirmative action is, as well as lists of valuable sources, web sites, and organizations to help one’s research on affirmative action.
Source of Web site: Jane Doyle, College Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Title of Web page: Affirmative action special report
Brief Description: The Washington-Post created a special web page dedicated entirely to
affirmative action and the news that surrounds it. The site has stories dealing with
affirmative action, opinions and arguments for both sides of the debate, as well as
links and resources to become more familiar with affirmative action.
Source of Web site: Washington Post

Title of Web page: civilrights.org: affirmative action
Brief Description: This web site has countless information on affirmative action even
though its stance is obviously pro-affirmative action. It lists important court cases that have set the path for affirmative action, as well as news stories on recent developments in affirmative action programs.
Source of Web site: Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

Title of Web page: Affirmative Action Resource Center
Brief Description: This web site gives both pro- and anti-affirmative action essays and
commentary, as well as helpful links and legislation dealing with affirmative
action.
Source of Web site: The National Center for Public Policy Research

Mini-Essay
Title: Shawn Fanning and the Napster Dynasty
(Topic Area: Net People and Places)

Shawn Fanning is credited with being the first person to make peer-to-peer file sharing a phenomenon with his Napster invention. The file-sharing program was the first major application to use non-server based communication. Its success would pave the way for many new programs to come.

Fanning came up with the idea for Napster when he was 18 years old. The company’s name is a replica of the nickname Fanning received for his supposedly “nappy” hair. He did no researching or analyzing before starting the project. He dived into his business because, while attending Northeastern University in Boston, he witnessed a lot of people complaining about the hardships of getting good music from the internet. (1)

He believed that if he could create a music-sharing program that combined different elements of instant messaging, file programming, and the searching capability of search engines, he would strike gold. He was correct as the Napster became fastest growing Web site in history, gaining 25 million users within a year of operation. (1)

The Napster dynasty would not last long, however. The more popular the program got, the more record companies despised and attacked it. Many record companies claimed Napster would reduce record sales because people would never opt to buy records if they could get everything for free.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued Napster in 2002 on the basis that Napster was theft software and nothing more than a copyright infringement creation. The suit went under review by the Federal Appeals Court in San Francisco and spoke on behalf of five major record companies. In July 2000, a U.S. district judge ordered that the service be shut down. (2)

Napster still exists, but the site charges for membership. With the rise (and often fall) of similar programs (Gnutella, Bear Share, and now Kazaa) that provide free service, Napster no longer thrives.

NOTES:
(1) “Meet the Napster,” Time, 2 Oct 2000, v156 i14 p60+. Database on-line. Available from Infotrac/General Business File < http://web6.infotrac.galegroup.com>. [31 January 2003].

(2) Heather Clancy, “Twenty-four -- Shawn Fanning - Music Man,” Computer Reseller News, 13 November 2000, p201. Database on-line. Available from Infotrac/General Business File < http://web6.infotrac.galegroup.com>. [31 January 2003].

THREE WEB SITES:
Title of Web Page: Shawn Fanning
Brief Description: This site provides a story about Fanning.
Source of Web site: Business Week Online

Title of Web page: Napster Networking
Brief Description: A very effective and helpful Web site about Napster and Shawn
Fanning.
Source of Web site: About.com

Title of Web page: People Who Mattered
Brief Description: This Web site gives a short basic story about Fanning’s contributions,
but the fact he made Time.com’s People Who Mattered (2000) shows how big of
an impact he had on technology and music.
Source of the Web site: Time.com

Jomc 50 -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

email: drayton@email.unc.edu

last updated: April 15, 2003