Affirmative Action: Requiem or Renaissance

• Home
• Agenda
• Location
• Registration

Arthur Fletcher

September 23, 2009, marks the 40th anniversary of the implementation of the first federal affirmative action employment program to have defined, quantifiable, enforceable goals.  This plan was formulated and executed in the presidential administration of Richard M. Nixon.  The man most visibly and outspokenly associated with what was known as the Philadelphia Plan, the first federal employment regulation to require the achievement of specific numeric hiring goals on federal contracts with a value of $500,000 or more, was Washburn University graduate and at the time, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor, Arthur Fletcher (BA, Washburn, ’50). Long identified as the “Father of Affirmative Action,” Fletcher had a long career in public service as a Republican partisan.  His final public service role was to serve as a revitalizing force for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights where he served as chairman during the administration of President George Herbert Walker Bush. To commemorate the anniversary of the Philadelphia Plan and to assess the impact of Affirmative Action 40 years on. Arthur Fletcher’s alma mater, Washburn University, announces a conference on Affirmative Action September 22-23, 2009.

Conference Overview

The conference, scheduled for September 22-23, 2009, on the campus of Washburn University, will bring historians, constitutional law experts, public policy scholars, students and others interested in Affirmative Action together to discuss the meaning and impact of Affirmative Action over the last 40 years and its prospects as the first president-of-color in U.S. history comes near completion of his first year in office. This event is free, though pre-registration is required. Registration will be accepted until September 16.

Friends of the Conference

Washburn University Department of Political Science Washburn University Department of History Washburn University Law Center for Excellence in Advocacy Washburn University Division of Continuing Education

The Brown Foundation Kansas African-American Affairs Commission Kansas Latino Affairs Commission

 

For more information contact: Thomas Underwood Assistant Dean, Division of Continuing Education Phone: (785) 670-1242 thomas.underwood@washburn.edu

Attendance at this conference is free to all, however, there are expenses and in this recessionary time resources are stretched beyond maximum.  If you would like to assist in defraying the costs of this program with a donation please contact Janet Cook at (785) 670-1399.