Affirmative Action

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Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action as defined by the Meriam Webster's Dictionary is an active effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups or women.
In 1961 John F.Kennedy issued an executive order calling for Affirmative
Action as a means to promote equal opportunity for racial minorities, in hiring by federal contractors. This was the first official use of the term by the
Federal Government. Eight years later Nixon as President beefed up the Office of
Federal Compliance Programs, which along with the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission has become one of the governments two main enforcers of affirmative action policy.(Grolier's Electronic Encyclopedia, 1993)
Such efforts have vastly expanded opportunities for Afro-Americans.
However they have also touched off complaints from many whites that Afro-
Americans are benefiting from reverse discrimination. Under the equal opportunity act of 1972 most federal contractors, subcontractors, all state and government institutions (including universities) must initiate plans to increase the proportions of their female and minority employees until they are equal to the proportions existing in the available labor market.(Grolier's Electric
Encyclopedia, 1993)
Affirmative action plans that establish racial quotas were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the case of University of California VS.
Bakke in 1978. This case arose when the medical school of the University of
California at Davis twice rejected Allen Bakke's application while admitting members of racial minorities who had lower test scores. Bakke charged that the medical school's policy of setting aside 16 of the 100 positions for racial minorities was a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.
In a complex 5-4 decision the Supreme Court ordered that Bakke be admitted. The court ruled that even though universities may consider race and ethnic origins as a factor in evaluating candidates for admission, they may not establish fixed racial quotas.(Time Magazine, May 27 1991, pp.22)
The decision was, however upheld in the case of Private Business and
Unions in United Steelworkers of America vs. Webber in 1979. This case arose whe... ... middle of paper ...

... as measured by their share of the state's population.(NY Times, June 4 1995, pp.24)
Many students believe that if the goal of affirmative action is to move toward a more equal society, then the effect is to create a campus obsessed with racial and ethnic divisions. Some skeptics say affirmative action in admissions contributes to a balkanized campus of racially divided dorms and friendships that make the benefits of diversity more theoretical than real.
In a lecture Doctor Waldinger, a sociology professor at UCLA, had his own thesis about affirmative action. He contended that Afro-Americans and other minorities have historically succeeded without the help of affirmative action and that such preferences could be dispensed with today for all groups except
Afro-Americans. Ward Connerly, the black businessman and regent who proposed the resolutions to terminate the preference programs, has argued that affirmative action has outlived its usefulness and now undermines achievement by Afro-
Americans.(NY Times, May 3 1995, pp.B9)
Having discussed the views of professors and students, it is essential

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