IU Affirmative Action Bakesale Followup

Star Telegram ^

[Rush Reagan]

Hey guys you've probably read the thread about us having an affirmative action bakesale here at IU. I thought since we had it I'd give you an update. Well as you can probably guess it's been a real firestorm. When we had it there were probably 40-70 black people yelling at us for 2 hrs. No violence, and the University did not attempt to shut us down. So far they have actually been very supportive of our freedom of speech. However, after the bakesale in a time period of only 5 hrs the Black Student Union organized a forum where over a 100 people totally castigated the President of the Committee for Freedom, the group that put on the bakesale. We had not anticipated this and were not prepared. We should not have attended, but the President of the organization was forced to go by his boss because he is an RA. We've attracted a lot of news attention. We were the lead story on the local news last night as well as frontpage news in the student and local papers today. The Indianapolis Star also did a story and it has been picked up by the AP. Soon there will start to be letters coming in that call the organizer racist and slandering him. There have already been complaints that such protest should not be allowed at the school. That's good because that's what we wanted and we knew they would do that. We are drafting a response and we are going to hammer them. If any of you would like to help us by writting a letter to the editor of the school newspaper or Indianapolis Star get in touch with me. Thank you.

[CindyDawg]

So what is an AA bakesale? :')

[GulliverSwift]

my question, too.

[Rush Reagan]

I'm sorry if you didn't get to see the original post where I explained it. It is where you protest affirmative action by selling cookies with different prices based on race. For example Whites:1 dollar Blacks 50 cents etc.

[CindyDawg]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[TheBigB]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1014709/posts

[upchuck]

Well, I gotta hand it to IU. Most other bakesales like this I've read about have been shut down by the powers that be.

Looks like you've stirred the hornets nest but good.

Please keep us informed as to what happens.

BUMP!

[CindyDawg]

Thanks. The white males ought to have been the ones screaming:')

[Flora McDonald]

It takes a lot of courage to do what you guys did. I guess with 40-70 people screaming at you it was hard to "dialogue". Keep us updated on this and good luck to you.

[Boston Capitalist]

Keep it up! You guys are doing more good than you think. A few events like this will seed a larger campus movement and there is no more harmful source of left-wing indoctrination than the university. This is where people learn that "it is obvious to any educated person" that tax cuts are bad, whites are all racists, welfare is good, and all manner of left-wing dogma.

[Rush Reagan]

Yea well there was some dialogue but it was pretty heated. The forum that night was the worst though. It was ridiculous. There was one guy there that said, "Black people cannot be racist because they don't have power." and he also said, "Freedom and equality don't exist and they never will." That is ludacrious. The worst part is he is a professor. This is the b.s. he teaches his students. Another lady also said that University policy needs to be changed so this sort of thing isn't allowed, and that free speech should have limits when it offends people.

[William Tell]

You should offer to compromise by reducing the differences in price by a factor of two. Perhaps even agree to charge whites and Asians the same price. Even agree to sell to everyone at the same price, but leave the old prices visible.

The true racists in this case are those who can't justify preferential admission policies and who don't want that issue to be visible. That is what creates the anger. Try adjusting the prices so that the difference is almost negligible. They will still be unhappy.

[Flora McDonald]

"The worst part is he is a professor..."

That is so pathetic. Truly pathetic. I wonder how he got his position...hmmm. It sounds like the hastily organized forum was designed to intimidate your group and also the administration into silence. Were any of them wearing brown shirts?

[GeekDejure]

Curious... What were the final bakesale cash results???

.

[knuthom]

"Black people cannot be racist because they don't have power."

Ridiculous. Who has more power - me, a middle aged unknown white woman or Jesse Jackson?

[Rush Reagan]

We sold three one dollar cookies for a total of 3 dollars.

[Rush Reagan]

Also, who has more power a professor at a University or me a sophomore undergrad?

[usadave]

There was one guy there that said, "Black people cannot be racist because they don't have power."

This has got to be one of the most idiotic statements ever uttered by a human. Being racist has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not one has "power".

[MIsunshine]

I'm amazed that people on college campuses - those seeking an education & those providing one- see affirmative action at the bake sale level as racist, but can't see racism in affirmative action college admisions.

I have an idea for future AA bake sales--

Instead of adjusting prices for race &/or gender, charge the same price to everyone but supply a different amount of cookies for that price. A degree costs everyone (except for out of state students) the same no matter who's paying for it.

white male: 1 cookie/50 cents
American African male: 2 cookies/50 cents
American African female: 3 cookies/50 cents
American Asians if overrepresentation of minority population: 1/2 cookie for 50 cents

and so on.

And by all means get some good cookies!

As to the future meeting regarding your bake sale, I would ask anyone that's alleging racism to define what racism means. I'm really curious & I'm betting that you will hear that 'if it offends a minority it's racist'. (Please, please, please ask a few people to define racism & report back what they say!)

BTW, 'racism' is defined by Dictionary.com as
1.The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

Looks like college admissions based on race, an act of discrimination, is racism in practice. Of course I know how to read a dictionary.