A RECONCEPTUALIZATION OF QUALIFIED - THE ULTIMATE DILEMMA

Affirmative action was promulgated as a more active and aggressive mea ns of achieving equal opportunity for individuals and groups affected by past and present discriminatory practices. Because precise measures of implementation were not spelled out, there have been numerous appl ications and an equal number of objections from doubters. The most sal ient or controversial aspect of affirmative action concerns the issue of qualification. Opponents assert that affirmative action procedures result in the selection of unqualified individuals. When the issue of qualification is examined in the context of affirmative action procedu res, most authors agree that there are both positive and negative cons equences. Racial norming and other approaches are discussed here. For the most part these studies tease out complexities in what otherwise s eems a fairly straightforward process-establishing criteria for select ing qualified applicants. This article recommends the concept of thres hold in determining the line of demarcation between qualified and unqu alified individuals in selection and admission procedures. Further, it asserts that differences between individuals above threshold, on any attribute, are presumed to be irrelevant to the issue of qualification . Hence, among individuals above threshold, individuals with higher sc ores are not presumed to be more qualified than individuals with lower scores. Adoption of this position could alleviate reverse discriminat ion litigation.