Reverse Discrimination

Reverse discrimination has become a popular topic of discussion within the United States. Many people argue that it is being used in order to meet quotas based on whether they are a minority or not. This has especially been brought up in academic settings and has proven controversial.

            When it comes to an academic setting, many people are concerned about allowing a minority in over a white person due to the fact that they are a minority. It is legal for a school to accept a minority over a white person so long as their academics are the same. Many schools have been accused of doing this, but schools believe they are justified because they want to encourage minorities to seek higher education and promote diversity within their school.

            For example, if a black student and a white student both applied to the Kelly School of Business for a management degree and they both had the same GPA and SAT scores, the black student would be admitted over the white one because the school wants to show it is diverse and does not discriminate based on race. At the same time, they are choosing one race over another so it could blatantly be seen as discrimination because that is the definition to give one privileges over another based on race.

            Another example is if there is a male student and female student with the same GPA and test scores that apply to Purdue’s school of engineering. The school is of course going to take the woman over the man because our society is pushing very hard to have more women involved in technological careers. Purdue would also accept the woman over the man because the demographic of Purdue is around 80% male so they will do just about anything in order to have more women attend the school.

            There are plenty of examples in the workplace as well. This can more easily be done in a work environment because if you are judging based on resumes, there isn’t really a proper measurement that would clearly state that one candidate is better than the other. This will also allow the employer to choose based on race and claim it was “qualifications” when it could simply be giving the presence of diversity within the work office. I have seen this first hand within the School of Public and Environmental Affairs where one of the advisors was just replaced in order to higher a younger black advisor.

            A majority of the faculty are also women or a minority or both excluding the Dean of SPEA. This topic has stirred a lot of controversy within the office as it does with many places of work. SPEA also hired a diversity enrichment staff in order to show SPEA supports diversity. This job has currently been aimless and ineffective and is more of a title than an actual position that encourages/promotes diversity.

            Don’t mistaken me it is wonderful that we support so many different people within SPEA, but it should not be at the risk of others employment or based on whether the person in the job or seeking the job is a minority. As a white, straight, christian, male this still concerns me as I begin seeking employment and know there will be those who will hold a stereotype against me. I don’t want to necessarily say that it is reverse discrimination in all circumstances so much as its simply the fact that there are more white people that attend college than others and many minorities in this country still struggle to make the proper moves or have the financial means or even have the right to do what they want. Many homosexuals in this country still do not have many rights within the workplace and are just now able to be open about their sexual orientation without being judged. It was only within the last couple of years that homosexuals could serve in the military and that note has to be taken in the workplace as well. It is a very debatable topic and could harbor in multiple views and debates, but I believe so long as employers and academic institutions remain fair and unbiased as society has tried so hard to push for, there should be no conflict.