# Affirmative Action question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/affirmative-action-question/269553>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [October 16, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/affirmative-action-question/269553 "2004-10-16T15:38:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2004, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/affirmative-action-question/269553/21 "2004-10-18T19:22:32Z")

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> [@Master Control](#):
>
> or colleges and universities must give 5 extra points to minority enrollments

You’re laboring under a misapprehension. Extra points for minorities or women are neither quotas nor set-asides; they do not ensure even a single additional minority/female candidate will get a spot/job. Instead, they are a concrete way of implementing “all else being equal.”

Of course, I think quotas and set-asides are good policy (at least in education), so maybe I’m the wrong person to be addressing thie question.

–Cliffy

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