1.   At issue is affirmative action, the commitment to helping overcome entrenched inequities based on race by giving qualified minorities preference and help in hiring and contracting.

2.   Affirmative action is an attempt to repair the ravages of discrimination, to give qualified minorities equal footing.

3.   But the key is hiring qualified minorities, he said.

4.   But they also need to take a chance on a qualified minority who may have never had a head coaching job before.

5.   Critics of affirmative action contend that such programs promote less qualified minorities and women at the expense of their white counterparts.

6.   His suggestions that Texaco look elsewhere for qualified minority candidates, particularly at predominantly black schools, were largely ignored.

7.   Larger markets and bigger companies often lure qualified minorities away from their current jobs.

8.   Opponents insist all affirmative action programs give unfair preferences to less qualified minorities.

9.   Or it may be that qualified minorities are applying elsewhere to private schools, which they do not feel show a hostile attitude toward them.

10.   Since Hopwood stopped Texas colleges and universities from considering race in admissions or financial aid, many qualified minorities have fled to top-ranked universities in other states.