Affirmative Action: The Results When the topic of affirmative action is raised, we immediately think of when blacks and whites were segregated and how blacks fought for equality. However, affirmative action is more than allowing blacks, whites, and any other minority to attend the same school. Affirmative action is about allowing not only empty-handed men and women, but also other racial minorities who have for periods been excluded, to have a “fair chance” at education and employment. Affirmative action played an important role in the civil rights movements, as well as being the stepping stone to equality in the United States. While the concept is sound in theory, many challenges have arisen. Many of these arguments against affirmative action have been raised by people who feel rejected because of their race, especially among whites. Conservative ideologies seek to eliminate affirmative action. Bitterness among whites, especially white men, sees affirmative action as a way to give preferential treatment to people of color, who are seen as undeserving or who have already benefited enough from such programs (STEIN). The famous case of Cheryl Hopewood vs. University of Texas School of Law (UTLS), in which a lawsuit was filed due to denial of admission, despite Hopewood being a better applicant than many minority students accepted (STEIN). He believed the reason for his rejection was due to his race. According to his lawsuit, his LSAT scores and grades were higher than those accepted by students from minority groups. Hopewood felt he deserved admission based on meritocracy. However, as Harvard professor Michael Sandel pointed out in one of his lectures..."minority kids may have gone, in some cases to schools where the educator... middle of paper... was part of of a hiring committee more than once. I remember a time when we interviewed candidates for a telephone position. A Filipino woman applied for the position. She had extensive telephone experience, particularly in customer service, which we were looking for at that time. When it came time for the interview, she had a slight accent and, although she was very polite, she didn't get the job because one of the interviewers believed she wouldn't sound good on the phone because of her accent While this wasn't the official reason given by the interviewer, in my eyes it was clear discrimination. This is just one example of why we still need affirmative action. Affirmative action is not about giving an “undeserved advantage” to minorities. It's about ensuring that they are not ignored and given the same rights and benefits as everyone else.