The “Affirmative Action” Hoax

July 17, 2023

by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. LewRockwell.com

Most discussions of affirmative action center on whether it is legal. Can universities give special advantages to groups that are supposed to be “disadvantaged,” especially blacks? From a libertarian standpoint, private institutions should be free to set whatever admission requirements they want. State-run universities raise more complicated issues, but this isn’t what I want to discuss. We need to ask, is affirmative action a good idea?

Thomas Sowell tells us why it isn’t. “The human tragedy, amid all the legal evasions and frauds, is that, while many laws and policies sacrifice some people for the sake of other people, affirmative action manages to harm blacks, whites, Asians and others, even if in different ways.

Students who are kept out of a college because other students are admitted instead, under racial quotas, obviously lose opportunities they would otherwise have had.