Impassioned national debate on the issue has been sparked by a number of widely publicized events. Among them are an effort by two professors in California to do away with any vestige of affirmative action in hiring by state agencies--including the state university system--and last month's Supreme Court decision to eliminate race as a factor in awarding scholarships.
But in the halls of academia, perhaps the most strident exchanges are taking place among the parties whom affirmative action programs were designed to benefit--minorities and women.
In some cases, argument centers on who in the research community has really been helped by affirmative action. Some African American scientists say that white women have been the primary recipients of affirmative action.
"Affirmative action doesn't work to bring the disadvantaged into the mainstream," contends James Wyche, an African American cell biologist at Brown University. "At many colleges, there has been little change over ...
