NEWS FEED

Pro: Do we still need affirmative action for minorities?

Written by Diane Gromelski, Junior Editor

At the end of a long day of work, a woman and her male co-worker pick up their paychecks. While both employees worked equally hard for the same amount of time, they walk away with significantly different sums printed on their checks. The employees did the same work, but the man earned more.

The phrase “affirmative action” was first used in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy as he encouraged business owners to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, creed, color or national origin.” Affirmative action has been used in the workplace and in college admissions to level the playing field for minorities.

Many opponents argue that since 1961, the need for affirmative action has diminished as inequalities have disappeared, but women still earn 77 cents for every dollar a male makes, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census. African-Americans continue to have twice the unemployment rate of Caucasians, and just over half the proportion of people who attend four years or more of college.

Several Caucasian applicants have filed lawsuits claiming they were not admitted to a college because of affirmative action policies in place. In a case that will be heard in the Supreme Court, Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, Abigail Fisher claims that the University of Texas did not admit her because they were giving inappropriate consideration to minority applicants. What Fisher and other affirmative action opponents may not understand is that in affirmative action programs, selection is not based solely on a person’s race or gender; these factors are just taken into consideration along with their qualifications and merit.

For the opposing view on this issue click here.