Reply #36: It does get to be sticky when you limit one minority to benefit other minorities (and perhaps some [View All]

[pampango]

in the majority as well).

Affirmative action should be used to promote the participation of disadvantaged minorities, which would exclude Asians at least in the context of higher education. (Of course, it might also exclude women who, I believe, are a majority of college students today.) A case can certainly be made that Asians should not benefit from affirmative action in higher education since they are not a disadvantaged, underrepresented minority in that context.

To argue that their numbers should somehow be limited because they are a "too successful" minority (as many colleges did with Jews early last century) seems to be a much more difficult case to make. Of course, if Asians aren't limited and are "overrepresented" then, by definition, some other groups (other minorities, women, whites) will have to be "underrepresented".