Affirmative Action as defined as an effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups or women. Many debates over whether laws that instituted Affirmative Action actually corrected discrimination in employment and education or created a new minority, the white male. In 1961 President John Kennedy made into law an executive order for Affirmative Action as a means to promote equal opportunity for racial minorities, in hiring by federal contractors. Later President Nixon 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. These efforts greatly improved opportunities for minorities. However there have been many complaints from many whites and some minorities that Affirmative Action leads to reverse discrimination. Under the Equal Opportunity Act of 1972 federal contractors, state and government institutions and state universities had to institute plans to increase the proportions of their female and minority employees and students until they are equal to the proportions existing in the labor market and school systems. In 1978 affirmative action plans that established racial quotas were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the case of University of California vs. Bakke. This case was brought to the courts when the University of California Medical School twice rejected Allen Bakke's application while admitting members of racial minorities who had lower test scores. Bakke case was that the medical school's policy of setting aside 16 of the 100 positions for racial minorities was a violation of the 14th amendment. In a close decision the Supreme Court ordered in Bakkes favor. 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...
