Affirmative action, quotas, equal opportunity:
   I am a passionate advocate of equal opportunity. I have fought for
   civil rights as a university student, university president, governor,
   and secretary of education. The promise of American life has always
   meant to me the equal opportunity for every person to get as far as
   their abilities and aspirations can carry them, without anyone
   blocking their way on account of race, religion, gender, or
   disability. Discrimination has no place in this land. But neither do
   quotas, reverse discrimination, special preferences or benefits that
   you only get because you belong to some group. It is un-American to
   treat people as members of a group rather than as individuals. When I
   became U.S. Secretary of Education in 1991, I had to decide whether we
   should allow colleges and universities to grant scholarships based on
   race. I said no, scholarships should be for everybody.