THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 4, 1995 TAG: 9506040135
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
A four-part series
PART ONE
OVERVIEW
SOURCE: BY DAN DUKE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Affirmative action, a 30-year-old edifice of government programs and good intentions, is under siege.
Presidential candidates proclaim: ``Elect me, and I'll tear it down.'' President Clinton orders a panel to study possible reforms. A chorus of so-called ``angry white males,'' squeezed by a shrinking economy, calls for the end of government-sponsored ``reverse discrimination.''
Women and minorities, the targets of the effort to fight long-standing prejudice in education and the workplace, also are expressing doubts about affirmative action. Some say its goals are meager and its enforcement lax. Worse, because of talk that it does not so much raise people up as it brings standards down, affirmative action stigmatizes the people it does manage to help.
Despite the waves of doubt crashing against affirmative action, a new poll in South Hampton Roads indicates that most people here do not wish to see it washed away.
An opinion poll done for The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star found that 51 percent of the people in the region want affirmative action programs to remain the same or be increased. The poll shows that 19 percent want the programs to be decreased, and 18 percent think they should be eliminated.
When the term ``affirmative action,'' with all its baggage, was removed from questions, stronger support for such programs was expressed.
For instance, 55 percent of respondents agreed that minorities and women should be given preferences in hiring today, considering the job discrimination against those groups in the past. Forty percent said there is no need to give preference to women or minorities. Among blacks, however, 72 percent agreed with giving preferences.
One question found backing for the set-aside programs designed to help women and minorities: 55 percent were in favor of requiring that a certain percentage of government contracts be awarded to businesses owned by women and minorities; 38 percent were against such a requirement.
When asked if they would favor hiring a well-qualified minority over an equally qualified white applicant for a job that has few minority workers, 60 percent agreed while 30 percent disagreed.
When asked a similar question about hiring a well-qualified female applicant over an equally qualified male, 59 percent gave the female the nod, while 32 percent disagreed with that choice.
Affirmative action measures did not receive blanket approval, however.
People were against hiring a minority or woman who was less qualified than a white applicant. The percentages were 66-29 against favoring a less-qualified minority applicant and 78-17 against favoring a less-qualified female applicant.
And 55 percent do not favor making a certain number of scholarships at public colleges and universities available only to minorities and women, while 40 percent favored doing so.
Would you take a job if your prospective employer wanted you only for your race or gender? In this poll, 75 percent said no, while 19 percent said they would.
The two groups most closely linked to affirmative action, blacks and women, expressed the strongest rejection of such a job offer: 79 percent of the blacks and 75 percent of the women wouldn't take that job, while 72 percent of whites and 74 percent of men would reject it.
On the other hand, blacks and women indicated they would be supportive of someone they believed got a job solely on the basis of race or gender.
Would you think less of such a co-worker? Among all respondents, 53 percent said they would not, while 42 percent said they would. Among blacks and women, 66 percent and 54 percent, respectively, said they would not think less of that co-worker.
Despite the differing views on equality in the workplace, the poll found general support for diversity there: 39 percent thought it was better to have a diverse work force because it is morally right; 37 percent because it is good for business; and 8 percent because it is the law. Only 5 percent said it is not good for an employer to have a diverse work force, and 12 percent were not sure. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
That's one of the dominant themes of the survey done for The
Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star .
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB