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Figure 1. Everyone should be treated the same, photo credit to Rampages (Boyd, 2016).
The Evolution of Equal Protection in Higher Education. Today, everyone, such as white, black, Hispanic, students with disabilities, low-income students, gender, and other minorities and immigrants are at college in this country. Laws, policies, and federal acts have given them the freedom to obtain an education. The Equal Protection Clause, the Fourteenth Amendment, is the root of all laws, policies, and acts which has begun from racial segregation to immigrants. -
Figure 2. Oberlin College. Baseball team, photo credit to Public Domain (Dwayne, n.d.).
Oberlin College- The first battle to have equal access to education was supposedly occurred at Oberlin College. It is the first college to allow black students and women to attend there (Dwayne, n.d.). It was said that college wanted and tried to end the slavery (Dwayne, n.d.). It seemed that Oberlin College was the first college to courage people to fight for equal rights for education. In about 30 years later, the Equal Protection Clause, the Fourteenth Amendment, was passed. -
Figure 3. Symbol of Equal Rights, credit to Carlos Foglia (Foglia & Pell, 2017).
The Fourteenth Amendment- The most influenced law and policy that changed the course of history for diversity students to get an education was passing the Equal Protection Clause bill, the Fourteenth Amendment. For instance, Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Title IX of Educational Amendments Acts of 1972 are the causes of Fourteenth Amendment (Patten, n.d.). Today, it is still used to allow any American citizen to get an education. -
Figure 4. The Morrill Act. Opening to blacks, women, and immigrants. Photo credit to Architect of the Capitol (Goolsbee & Minow, 2016).
Morrill Act- The formation of Morrill Act was influenced by the Fourteenth Amendment which has “led to the establishment of a number of colleges for African American students” (Safransky, n.d.,” Morrill,” para. 1). Morrill Act has allowed the black students to have the equal access to education, also including women, minorities, and immigrants. This act was the key that has expanded to 105 land-grant colleges for all diversity students today (Safransky, n.d.). -
Figure 5. History of Plessy v. Ferguson posted by Velez (2014).
Plessy v. Ferguson- The Court ruled that all schools, “hotels, public transportation, and sports” are to be separate between blacks and whites (Johnson, n.d., “The Plessy,” para. 3). It is called "separate but equal," but it contrast to the Fourteenth Amendment which made things difficult for black people to have equal access to education. In between 1800 to 1950s, this country is still struggling with the idea of the Equal Protection Clause. -
Figure 6. Brown v. Board of Education. "On the steps of the Supreme Court after the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954," photo credit to Corbis (Rosen, 2007, "NEW DAY," figure one) .
Brown v. Board of Education- finally, the Court found that the idea of “separate but equal” violated the Fourteenth Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause (Noltemeyer, 2012). However, it is not just about blacks, women, or immigrant but students with disabilities are still facing unequal opportunity in education. According to Noltemeyer (2012), “schools were not required to serve children with disabilities” (p. 14). -
Figure 7. Gender Equity and Title IX in 1972, credit to Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photograph Division (Winslow, n.d.).
Title IX of Educational Amendments Acts has become clearer to the Court about equal rights because of many complaints about gender equity. Title IX “apply to athletic opportunities,” “employment practices within educational institutions,” and “include teacher-student and student-student sexual harassment” (Rhine, 2005, p. 3). Before 1972, the female was not allowed to participate in sports, however, today, we see many sports including women because of Title IX (Senne, 2016). -
Figure 9. The President and the board of Education. (Cannon, 2011).
Equal Educational Opportunities Act (EEOA) – Second Language learners are now under Equal Protection Clause because of Fourteenth Amendment and Civil Rights Act of 1964. Due to “the Supreme Court in Lau v. Nichols (1974) held [that schools will help students] with limited English proficiency (LEP) who were not provided with special programs" (Bruner, n.d., “Background,” para. 4). Apparent, the students who lack in English were not treated as equal as others in higher education. -
Figure 10. Protest rally by people with disabilities, photo credit to Tom Olin (Byzek, 2015).
American with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a law that allowed students with disabilities to have equal access education. ADA was enacted "to comply with the ADA in systems of higher education, [then] the complexity of universities calls for a model reflective of that complexity” (Bowman & Marzouk, 1992, “Abstract,” para. 1). It is about time for the students with disabilities to be recognized as an American citizen since the Fourteenth Amendment is talking about them too. -
Figure 11. "Students Protest Poor Conditions", photo credit to State of Virginia (Mitchell, 2017).
Money for college is other issues with equal access to education since college is not cheap. There are many low, and middle-income students cannot afford to go to college. Therefore, federal decided to reauthorize the Higher Education Act to grant more money to the financial aids. This is reauthorization of Higher Education act of 1965 (Burke, 2014) which was initially to support the educational institution with grant money, not about equal access to education. -
Figure 12. Diversity Students Thumb Up (Henry, n.d.).
Conclusion: The battle to get equal access to education by diversity students, parent, and faculty throughout the history, either protest rally, sue the court, physical violence, and so on, is the cause of the formation of the Equal Protection Clause. Apparent, this country, the United States of America, is still growing into stronger democracy. Equal access to higher education is what democracy is all about. -
Figure 13. LGBT Protest Rally, photo credit to Marc Bruxelle (Radkowsky, 2016).
The current event that may have either alter or improve the idea of using Equal Protection Clause for higher education is with LGBT, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual. For instance, “Federal Judge Dean Pregerson ruled that gender and sexual orientation discrimination “does not exist” (Knoll, 2016, “LGBT,” para. 1). The battle between the Court and people about LGBT is still debate today and can have the impact on changing the law such as amending to Equal Protection Clause.
