Affirmative Action Views
| Kristina Kim |
By Kristina Kim
Editor’s Note - As a part of a class taught by Professor Tess Arenas, four UW-Madison
students exploted the issue of Affirmative Action. One of the papers submitted by the students,
written by Kristina Kim, is presented here.
In our multicultural society, affirmative action policies have been implemented all throughout
society in college admissions, the workplace, scholarships, and in many other areas of our
lives. Some view these efforts as a benefit to society as affirmative action brings richness
and different perspectives into different environments. Yet, others see affirmative action
policies as a waste of money and see a reverse discrimination taking place. Though
controversial, many see affirmative action policies bringing diversity into a setting where it
wouldn’t have otherwise been present, while others don’t believe that it is the job of
administrators to create diversity within an environment.
The Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) released a statement stating that reverse
discrimination was taking place in the UW-Madison’s admission policies. This was due to
affirmative action. Lee Hansen, an advocator at the UW-Madison against affirmative action, said “We’ve been doing this (affirmative
action) for more than 40 years and not much progress has been made. Many of the problems we saw in the late 60s are still with us, and
I don’t think we’ve achieved the near success that anyone has hoped for.” When asked if he thought admission administrators gave
preferential treatment to minorities, Hansen sees a distinction between minority and non-minority applications in the admission process,
yet stated it is very hard to find out how the admission process works. Hansen believes that with affirmative action policies, more
evidence is needed to see how well minority students who are given preferential treatment perform in the university setting. He states
there is “nothing wrong with diversity, I’m in favor of diversity. The question is how do you achieve that and how do you use preferential
admission policies to get to where we are.” The question remains at how do we define a “diverse” environment where affirmative
action policies may no longer be needed.
Luis A. Pinero, who works for the Office for Equity and Diversity at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, stated he doesn’t see
affirmative action policies “dying” down. “I’d love to say we would do away with how people behave and prejudices, but you see today
that discrimination still exits.” Proponents of affirmative action believe that it brings diversity within an environment where it wouldn’t
have existed before. Pinero stated diversity is significant because it “brings richness and perspectives and perspectives can be
enriching to solve a particular problem.” People who support affirmative action believe that it is important because “we still hold biases
in our views” and these “prejudices and biases are still present in our hiring situations” in terms of employment. Pinero stated “based
on what I see everyday, we do need programs and the opportunity to hold people to educate and hold people to these expectations” that
affirmative action laws bring.
Society created affirmative action laws because they felt the need to help eliminate past discrimination present in society today. The
purpose behind affirmative action laws is to better society and to allow people to have an equal chance to succeed. People created
affirmative action laws not to hurt society, but to improve society as a whole. Although many people believe that affirmative action laws
are harming society, we must look at the bigger picture and see the benefits that affirmative action brings for society.
action) for more than 40 years and not much progress has been made. Many of the problems we saw in the late 60s are still with us, and
I don’t think we’ve achieved the near success that anyone has hoped for.” When asked if he thought admission administrators gave
preferential treatment to minorities, Hansen sees a distinction between minority and non-minority applications in the admission process,
yet stated it is very hard to find out how the admission process works. Hansen believes that with affirmative action policies, more
evidence is needed to see how well minority students who are given preferential treatment perform in the university setting. He states
there is “nothing wrong with diversity, I’m in favor of diversity. The question is how do you achieve that and how do you use preferential
admission policies to get to where we are.” The question remains at how do we define a “diverse” environment where affirmative
action policies may no longer be needed.
Luis A. Pinero, who works for the Office for Equity and Diversity at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, stated he doesn’t see
affirmative action policies “dying” down. “I’d love to say we would do away with how people behave and prejudices, but you see today
that discrimination still exits.” Proponents of affirmative action believe that it brings diversity within an environment where it wouldn’t
have existed before. Pinero stated diversity is significant because it “brings richness and perspectives and perspectives can be
enriching to solve a particular problem.” People who support affirmative action believe that it is important because “we still hold biases
in our views” and these “prejudices and biases are still present in our hiring situations” in terms of employment. Pinero stated “based
on what I see everyday, we do need programs and the opportunity to hold people to educate and hold people to these expectations” that
affirmative action laws bring.
Society created affirmative action laws because they felt the need to help eliminate past discrimination present in society today. The
purpose behind affirmative action laws is to better society and to allow people to have an equal chance to succeed. People created
affirmative action laws not to hurt society, but to improve society as a whole. Although many people believe that affirmative action laws
are harming society, we must look at the bigger picture and see the benefits that affirmative action brings for society.
