Affirmative Action

TERM PROJECT (20 POINTS)
One of the most controversial issues in the field of employment law today is that affirmative
action, and whether or not such policies for hiring are morally defensible. Affirmative action also
happens to be an important topic in colleges and universities, where its use in admissions
decisions is hotly contested. In fact, the Trump administration recently declared its intentions to
legally challenge the use of affirmative action in post-secondary admissions settings.

First, read this article on affirmative action:
https://onlinecareertips.com/2019/06/affirmative-action-complicated/

Suppose you work for a major hotel chain in a human resources leadership capacity. One day,
your boss asks you to draft a memo for the company’s leadership team regarding the propriety
of affirmative action in hiring. The company is concerned that its employee base isn’t diverse
enough, and that they risk scrutiny and perhaps even disparate impact discrimination penalties
if their workforce demographics were to ever be audited by the government.
In no less than 2,000 words, take a stance on the issue of affirmative action, and articulate your
opinion to your company’s leaders in a professional memo. Although you will be defending one
side of this issue (either for or against), be sure to analyze and discuss BOTH sides. Your
submission should include, but is not limited to, thoughts on the following questions:
1. What are the arguments in favor of each side?
2. What are the arguments against each side?
3. What relevant case law exists on the subject of affirmative action? Which side does it
favor?
4. What is the EEOC’s current position on voluntary workplace affirmative action policies?
5. What other companies in the industry have adopted affirmative action policies? To
which minorities do they give preference?
6. What potential consequences would there be if your company’s leaders follow your
advice?
7. What potential consequences would there be if your company’s leaders ignore your
advice?
4
Remember that this project is a legal analysis of facts and circumstances, not an editorial piece.
In the law, you don’t get to say something ought to be a certain way because “that’s the way I
feel”. You must defend your position with sound, rational reasoning. As such, research is an
integral part of this project. Your memo should include a minimum of 5 external sources, and
they must be cited properly in APA format.
Your submission should be entered directly into the text field for the term project assignment in
Canvas. I strongly recommend that you write your paper in MS Word, Google Docs, or some
other word processor so that you can save your work as you go (Canvas won’t save your work
until you actually submit). You can also use the word counter tool that comes as part of most
word processors to make sure you meet the minimum length requirement. Then, once you are
finished, simply copy and paste your work from your word processor document into the text
editor box for the assignment, and submit. Note: The text editor box does not always properly
display images, tables, etc., so I would avoid those in your paper. To reiterate, you will NOT be
uploading a file to Canvas…you will be copying your paper into the text box and then submitting.
As far as format, I don’t care what font you use (no wingdings please), or whether you
double-space, or whether you include a title page (none of this will format properly in the text
editor box anyway). The only formatting particular that I do require (as noted above) is that your
references are in APA format. That means both the references themselves and your in-text
citations (every reference should be cited at least once in-text). Also, please be sure to
proofread your work, as credit will be deducted for grammatical errors.
IMPORTANT: Do not plagiarize. This assignment uses TurnItIn.com for originality verification. If
you copy/paste from other sources, I will know it, and you will receive a zero.