Affirmative action programs only guarantee that all applicants for employment will be treated equally, and that employment decisions will be based on job-related criteria. All candidates selected for interviews must meet the qualifications specified in the vacancy announcement. Discrimination is discrimination. It is illegal to base employment decisions on any criteria other than bona fide qualifications. Statistics show that 95 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs and 85 percent of tenured professors and associate professors are white males.
Quotas are illegal under federal law.
The use of quotas can only be imposed if the federal government finds that an organization has engaged in discriminatory hiring practices. The only federal employment preferences are the ones awarded to military veterans. Send questions or comments to Office of Diversity Initiatives .