Lugg (1997) mentions, the Reagan administration did little more than rationalize the use of affirmative action, thereby legitimizing and strengthening the underlying policy (p. 16). While in office, Reagan also condemned the idea of quotas and racial preferences, although it was in his power to abolish Johnsons Executive Order 11246. The order used a de facto system in racial hiring, meaning that while there was no official approval of using quotas, they were actually in existence (Dorsen, 1994). The Bush Administration added to the provisions of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, establishing the 1991 Civil Rights Act which created new remedies and rights for plaintiffs in discrimination cases by authorizing compensatory and punitive damages (Federal Laws, 1998). This was a major move in acquiring equal opportunity in education. It would also lead to reverse discrimination law suits and an unjustified number of people claiming discrimination. However, during the 70s racial preference and group proportional equality emerged in addition to other types of affirmative action. Some of these included special minority training, special financial aid and admittance requirements, and other similar actions. This idea of preferential treatment split the idea of anti-discrimination into two different directions (Lugg, 1997, p. 12). On one end was compensatory justice and on the other what would later be called reverse discrimination, meaning that the discrimination was against non-minorities. These preferential treatments would also play a role in developing the idea of reverse discrimination.According to Lugg (1997), during the Kennedy Administration, the government [was] forced to strengthen [the] efforts at equalizing opportunity,and aimed not solely at ending discrimination but remedying the effects of past discrimination (p. 11). This is when affirmative action makes the mistake of trying to correct past wrongs instead of focusing on eq...
