Reparations and Higher Education.(Brief Article)

There is a continuing argument about the role of affirmative action, in various forms, in admissions and faculty recruitment at historically White universities, and in budget support for historically Black colleges and universities. But the debate does not get us much closer to consensus on a practical guiding principle for making decisions or even for defining the problems. That is because we are avoiding the explicit use of the concept of reparations. Without that, we cannot find our way to a clear formulation because the fundamental problem is unjust enrichment and what to do to rectify it.

It is difficult to introduce the concept of reparations because it appears to be accusatory and threatening to friendly allies of good will, because its analytical and factual basis …