Posted on 12/09/2002 8:41:44 AM PST by anobjectivist
If the U.S. Supreme Court can stay away from the eggnog this holiday season, we may see an end to a racist blight that has plagued the nation for almost 25 years-namely, affirmative action.
Who knows, this might start a trend that leads to the abolishment of the pernicious awareness month plague with which we currently suffer.
I'm glad the Alligator has investigative reporters on staff. They save me a great deal of legwork (even while my fellow editorialists provide me a seemingly inexhaustible reservoir of liberal propaganda to debunk).
Katherine McFarland's special events budget article alst week provided me with some numbers about which I always had been curious.
$49,357 for Hispanic Heritage Month? $45,260 for Black History Month? Those numbers begged the question, "Why do we waste money on these deleterious programs?"
Yes, I'm aware that certain portions of student tuition are earmarked for such eccentricities, so they don't technically take money away from other more critical areas. But can't students say, "No. You aren't going to squander our fees on this when there are bigger issues at hand."
Is the bureaucracy so out of control that we can't get the money away from the window-dressing when the foundation is crumbling? Last year's expenditure was $216,746, and $227,141 is projected for next year.
Hell, that might cover the international student monitoring fee or salaries for a dozen new teachers' assitants, easily. Or even help to pay for graduate student health insurance.
Better bus service? Even free student football tickets?
The list of items that would benefit all the students directly and indirectly, instead of a select few, goes on to infinite. If nothing else, we could consolidate all the awareness weeks/months into on self-alienating minority awareness month, sort of a self-pity kaleidoscope.
If every ethnic, religious and social sub-group demanded matching funds so they could have their own month, we'd bankrupt Student Government (and run out of months).
Maybe I would feel differently if, after several years of attending this university, I had seen any benefit from this misuse of my student fees other than a cool Hispanic Heritage fiesta.
It's disappointing, but not altogether surprising, since awareness months are part of the same erroneous sense of entitlement that has women demanding entry into the privately owned Augusta National golf course.
They are entitiled to special treatment, and you are obligated to pay for it. I'm all for broadening horizons of the underprileged and diveristy in education.
Accordingly, maybe some of those funds could be diverted to scholarships for the underprivileged of all races and genders. I don't mind that some professors choose to teach and students sign-up to pay for blantantly race and gender-biased classes.
However, I've never signed up for an African-American or women's history class becauses I don't believe in segregating history any more than I believe in the classroom segregation.
Don't make me pay for your awareness month. Segregation by any other name is still segregation.
NOTICE The following is the proposed 2003-2004 Special Events Budget:
ASU- Asian Kaleidoscope $16,622 BSU- Black History $47,523 HSA- Hispanic Heritage Month $51,528 IRHA- Residence Hall Week $17,325 IOC- Islam Awareness Month $14,003 JSU- Jewish Student Union $26,135 PSU- Pride Awareness Month- $22,078 VISA- International Month- $31,927 TOTAL BUDGET $227,141
I believe it will be similar if not worse for many other universities. If you are a student or a parent paying your student's college tuition, find out and let your school know that you don't want your money squandered on segregated budgets.
Then.........THEN try to find out where all of that earmarked money really went.
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