On October 15^th, the Supreme Court continued arguments over Michigan’s voter-approved law to ban use of racial criteria in college admissions. Four months ago, at the University of Texas, a white student said the college’s existing affirmative action policy violated her rights of equal protection, therefore violating the 14^th Amendment. These battles are the latest in the war of affirmative action.

The gist of affirmative action is this: if two people being selected for something have the exact same abilities, the institution selects the minority student if selecting that minority student helps the institution reach a population that reflects the overall country’s population, as it relates to the percentages of various ethnic groups. The first law of this kind was enacted 50 years ago to ensure more African-Americans would work in the government. Those who support affirmative action state that laws like these prevent the discrimination of minorities. However, members of majority groups, particularly in universities, have complained of admission denial because they are not a minority.

A popular protest tactic is the affirmative action bake sale. Many universities have used this gimmick to show the downside of affirmative action. The University of Texas Chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas popularized this on September 25^th. The prices said it all. Whites: $2.00, Asians: $1.50, Latinos: $1.00, African-Americans: $0.75, Native Americans: $0.25, with $0.25 off for all women. This bake sale was criticized widely for being offensive, and I agree it was. This is where the bakers went wrong; when an argument is offensive it loses credibility, and therefore does not pack a punch.

Affirmative action was supposed to give all prospective students equal access to education, but instead, implements discrimination towards majorities. These laws were designed in a time when minorities were treated much worse than they are today and, therefore, have less relevance in the 21^st century. Now, discrimination is still going on – this time towards majorities. Also, these laws may be emotionally damaging towards minorities who may be left wondering if they gained admission to a college, not because of talent, but because of a race quota.

America is supposed to be a country where discrimination is nonexistent, and discrimination towards minorities has largely been reduced, but now minorities are being tokenized at the majority’s expense. Discrimination towards anyone is unacceptable, and we should not be a nation scrambling to show a lack of racism that minorities are deliberately accepted in places, while majorities are pushed out. Race, gender, age, and orientation should not be a factor in deciding job or college applications. If two people with the same talents apply at the same place, just flip a coin. A random decision is better than a racist one.

This article was written in response to another opinion piece promoting affirmative action.