How, why, and in what form did affirmative action emerge in higher education? Previous studies on the origins of affirmative action reflect the classic structure-agency problem, framing elite universities’ actions or inactions during the 1960s as shaped by external pressures and/or top-down dynamics. In explaining institutional change, these studies highlight factors such as the Civil Rights Movement’s advocacy for equitable admissions to address historical injustices; colleges' and universities' traditional ties to old-money elites that upheld meritocratic standards; and the initiative of liberal administrators, often portrayed as acting in alignment with civil rights claims, even if that meant challenging elite interests
 
I reassess these understandings about the mechanisms behind the emergence of affirmative action in the 1960s by comparing this development at the Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses of the University of California. I find that local reflections on organizational identity and meritocracy determined how the events of the 1960s were interpreted and responded to. In fact, despite experiencing virtually the same national, state, and university level pressures and constraints, actors at Berkeley and Los Angeles differed in their conclusions about the role of the university in civil rights and their approaches to affirmative action. Additionally, these meaning-making and action processes occurred not through a single, top-down administrative directive but rather between and within small groups—of administrators, faculty, and staff—each offering their own perspective on the university’s role and proposals for collective action.
 
Outcomes were open-ended with regard to the timing and posture of action; in fact, conservative actors could be moved under the right banner, and early action often rejected the central ideas of the Civil Rights Movement.These findings suggest a model of institutional change with more agency relative to the ideologies of social movements, elite interests, or the prerogatives of administrators. 

Trinel Torian (he/him) is a sociologist of education and a research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. His research examines organizational behavior and institutional change in education, specifically as it relates to policy efforts to address educational inequalities. His work gives special attention to the local political dynamics of these efforts, their animating ideas, successes and failures, and the broader changes in education and society in which they are implicated. He has examined issues spanning elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education. For example, Trinel has examined the emergence and early implementation of affirmative action in elite higher education, assessed the efficacy of Title I  initiatives at the elementary and secondary level, and traced historical roots of the contemporary struggles of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Trinel has also studied education cross-nationally, comparing how education systems in the U.S. and Nordic countries approach the addressing of inequalities by race and class.