The Argument Against Affirmative Action

Despite official, federal support for affirmative action, there was little agreement as to what exactly constituted equal opportunity under affirmative action.  To what extent should companies and universities have to accommodate unequal access to primary and secondary education?  What constituted equal opportunity?  These debates continued to rage in the 1980s and 1990s and they became increasingly urgent as white, middle-class parents and students became nervous about their own access to higher education.  Rising college costs and increasing selectivity inspired a fortress mentality among white students who felt that affirmative action unfairly privileged African American students.  These students and their parents alleged that universities would take less qualified black students in favor of more qualified white students.  For white students who felt adversely affected by affirmative action, affirmative action didn’t address historical inequalities caused by white privilege.  Rather, affirmative action subjected white students to unfair standards that privileged black students.[1]