Affirmative Action Alternative

To the editor:

With regard to James McPherson’s “Deconstructing Affirmative Action” (Perspectives, April 2003) and Jay Bergman’s letter to the editor in reply (May 2003), I would like to suggest that the time is right to go forward from affirmative action. To continue affirmative action as it is now is to stagnate. To end affirmative action is to go backward. Both policies show lack of imagination in addressing what is still a major problem of society.

Affirmative action in higher education could be modified to give preference to first-generation college students. This would satisfy most critics and improve the mission of affirmative action as a tool for greater democracy.