Quatas and Set-Asides: Great in the 1960s, but Untected in the 2000s - Term Paper Example

The country would not change overnight; just because laws were being repealed, this would do nothing to alter the previously ingrained thinking towards minorities in the nation. Thus came about what is now known as affirmative action, designed to stop discrimination and provide opportunities to minority groups that had previously been thought inaccessible. Affirmative action, such as it was established, was never a ground-breaking, sweeping, concrete movement. Couched in government language and executive orders, its purpose was to hopefully one day to expand diversity in college campuses and businesses across the nation (Marable 4).

As a side effect, it would provide “compensatory justice” to those that had been victimized by the Jim Crow laws, as well as possibly begin to “make up” for the slavery that had been endured by African-Americans (Marable 4). Affirmative action would level the playing field, create opportunities for higher education and jobs, and help those who had been discriminated against in the past achieve the status of equality that was so desperately sought. Affirmative action, at its core, never established quotas, nor did it establish or guarantee any set-asides.

In no way did affirmative action ever specify that a certain amount of any ethnic minority would be allowed, based on their race or creed, to attend college or secure employment (MacLaury). In no way did it ever guarantee that any funding would be set aside for businesses to receive projects (MacLaury). Instead, it merely set about bringing reality to the minds and hearts of those that had struggled to break barriers thought unbreakable. It worked alongside laws such as Public Law 88-352, also known as the Civil Rights Acts of 1964, which effectively prohibited race, creed, color, or national origin to be a factor during employment, as well as hiring and firing procedures and practices (Wright 23).

Never once in any terminology did it establish or mandate any quotas that would have to be filled by any educational institution or place of employment. The most that was required, as per Executive Order 11246, was that businesses that operated with federal funding establish a plan that would guarantee fair hiring practices across the board, without regard to previous practices that were considered discriminatory against women and/or minorities (“Executive Order 11246, As Amended”). In this way, it was hoped that jobs once unavailable and unattainable to some, would no longer be so.

While affirmative action in and of itself never mandated a single quota, institutions and businesses attempted to comply by initiating quotas. Contracts became ensured through means of set-asides (Dale). Though racial quotas for educational institutions were deemed illegal in 1978 unless mandated by the courts to redress past discrimination, it was still determined that colleges could use race as a factor in admissions, thus setting the stage for quotas to be renamed “goals” and used just as frequently, if unofficially.

Set-asides, another matter entirely, were still used through 2005 in some states such as Florida, banking on set-aside dollars through the