Overview

The question of affirmative action in both college acceptance and job selection has been a controversial issue since its inception. To explore this topic, let us first discover exactly what affirmative action is.
It is defined in a rather biased way as "Positive steps to enhance the diversity of some group, often to remedy the cumulative effect of subtle as well as gross expressions of prejudice."

Although this meaning has some truth to it-the fact that the original creators of the program had good intentions-it falls short of affirmative action's real-life definition. It is the de jure definition. The de facto definition is slightly different:

"A program that became law with the passage of the Equal Economic Opportunity (EEO) Act of 1972. Employers, labor unions, employment agencies, and labor-management apprenticeship programs must actively seek to eliminate discrimination against and increase employment of women and minorities."

Because of the wide spectrum of the interpretation of preferential treatment, there are many questions surrounding it: Is it necessary? Is it morally right? Will it help people, and if so, who? Is it fair? The latter is the question that will be focused on here. The debate over how just affirmative action is has only grown since programs utilizing the idea were put into effect.