Abstract:
This three-and-a-half page ethics case describes a policymaking dilemma that confronted the Pasadena City Council in the spring of 1985: whether or not to extend affirmative action protections, designed for blacks, to Armenian-Americans. It briefly summarizes the content of the city's affirmative action statute, the demographic makeup of Pasadena, and the divisions within the Armenian-American community in southern California. It describes incidents of alleged discrimination against Armenian-Americans--which prompted initial interest in the protections of affirmative action law--and sketches the arguments articulated both in support of, and in opposition to, this proposal. It ends with the city council considering both the original proposal and a counter-proposal put forward by the city's Human Relations Committee: to extend affirmative action protection to any immigrant who had been living in the United States fewer than 15 years. A half-page epilogue tells students how the city council actually voted.
Learning Objective:
Students may be asked to play the role of city councillors, and to analyze what assumptions about affirmative action policy underlie the various options open to them.
