Affirmative Action
...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...
View Full Essay
