Has Affirmative Action had any positive results? Should the policy be abandoned?
‘Affirmative Action has had an indelible imprint on the university environment’ [1]
With primary focus on the impact that affirmative action (AA) has had to African Americans in regard to College admission, this essay will seek to ascertain to what extent the policy has lead to positive results. While in addition, evaluating whether this policy is both a legitimate and a necessary feature within Universities in contemporary America, or should be abandoned.
Following President Johnson signing into law, executive order 11246 in 1965, the concept of affirmative action was formed and subsequently integrated within the college admission process in the United States. The primary intention of the policy was to ‘redress the disadvantages associated with overt historical discrimination’. [2] While furthermore, seeking to ensure that institutions, such as Universities, were more ‘representative of the populations they serve’. [3]
Since the implementation of the policy, throughout American University Campuses and the corridors of power in Washington, both debate and discourse has taken place in regard to the fairness and necessity of the practice of Affirmative Action within the College Admission process. As asserted by Garcia, those in favour of Affirmative action programs within Colleges viewed that the implementation of the policy was evidently ‘a catalyst that would play a significant role in diversifying our Institutions of higher learning’. [4] However, those opposed to the integration of affirmative action in this manner alleged that ‘something was occurring on college campuses that warranted organised resistance’. [5]
One key feature of AA that isn’t apparent in its contemporary form is the use of explicit quotas in regard to
