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BU group offers white scholarship (Boston University's College Republicans)
The Daily Free Press (Boston University) ^ | November 21, 2006 | Clarissa Bottesini

Posted on 11/21/2006 6:24:05 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough

Looking to draw attention to what they call the "worst form of bigotry confronting America today," Boston University's College Republicans are circulating an application for a "Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship" that requires applicants be at least 25 percent Caucasian.

"Did we do this to give a scholarship to white kids? Of course not," the scholarship reads. "Did we do it to trigger a discussion on what we believe to be the morally wrong practice of basing decisions in our schools and our jobs on racial preferences rather than merit? Absolutely."

The scholarship, which is privately funded by the BUCR without the support of the university, is meant to raise awareness, group members say. BUCR member argue that racial preferences are a form of "bigotry." The group has a similar view on affirmative action.

The application for the $250 scholarship, due Nov. 30, requires applicants be full-time BU undergraduate students and one-fourth Caucasian and maintain at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA. Applicants must submit two essays, one describing the applicant's ancestry and one describing "what it means to you to be a Caucasian-American today."

BUCR President Joe Mroszczyk said he spoke to Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore before publicly releasing the scholarship to make sure it would be legal. Mroszczyk said BUCR members also talked to others beforehand, some of whom were initially "agitated or upset" but understood the point after members explained themselves, he said.

"If you give out a white scholarship, it's racist, and if you give out a Hispanic scholarship, it is OK," the College of Arts and Sciences senior said. "It is the main point. We are not doing this scholarship as a white-supremacy scholarship."

La Fuerza Co-Chair Sara-Marie Pons, who is also on the Admissions Student Diversity Board, said although she agrees with BUCR's claim that racial preference is "contradictory to our American ideals of freedom and equality," she feels American history justifies today's affirmative action." Our country oppressed people of color for centuries while everyone else who was 'preferred' continued to succeed and lead our country in all aspects," the School of Management senior said in an email. "The goal of a university in striving to admit more students of color is a positive movement to increase the diversity of its institution."

Pons said the university's diversity creates a "better learning environment" and "dynamic discussion." She said she believes minority-specific scholarships serve an important function.

"While I can see the controversy over scholarships toward specific ethnic groups, we need to keep in mind its intention," she said. "The [group-specific] scholarship is there to increase the interest of students in that group to continue their education and reach the equality that we all strive for."

After the recipient is chosen, BUCR plans to host an event to honor the winner and speak about the award, as well as hold a forum discussion about racial preference, Mroszczyk said.

Mroszczyk said the BUCR borrowed the scholarship idea from the College Republicans at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I., which sponsored a similar award in 2003. Former RWU College Republicans President Jason Mattera said the "whites-only" scholarship was meant to be a parody, but it brought harsh media attention to their campus.

Mattera, now the Young American's Foundation National Spokesman, a group supporting the conservative movement, said the idea was spurred when RWU administrators "compiled a list of scholarships for people of color only." Although Mattera, a Puerto Rican, would have been eligible for some of these scholarships, he said he still wanted to "expose the inequities."

RWU College Republicans adviser June Speakman said the organization started receiving complaints as soon as it released the scholarship. Despite protests, 15 students applied for the scholarship.

"It was a way to make their protests highly visible, provocative," she said. "They stuck to their guns. They were steadfast."

Speakman said the scholarship was discontinued after its first year when the national and state Republican parties severed ties with RWU College Republicans.

Mattera said people were aware the scholarship had "nothing to do with racism," but the Republican National Committee still did not want to be affiliated with the scholarship.

"The RNC under [former chair] Ed Gillespie disagreed with me," Mattera said. "For Ed Gillespie to be dismissive or to imply that there was racism, he lacked any type of -- to put it bluntly -- balls in standing up against racial preferences. It would have been a great opportunity."

Regarding BU's adaptation of this scholarship, Mattera said he is glad the BUCR is interested in continuing to promote awareness.

"I guarantee that once this happens, be ready for hypocritical charges of racism, and be ready to be attacked," Mattera said, "but once they attack you, the hypocrisy is exposed."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: discrimination; education; racecard
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1 posted on 11/21/2006 6:24:09 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough
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To: LurkedLongEnough

I say, maybe it is about time. Why are white people evil? and non deserving?


2 posted on 11/21/2006 6:25:27 AM PST by television is just wrong (Our sympathies are misguided with illegal aliens...)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Our country oppressed people of color for centuries while everyone else who was 'preferred' continued to succeed and lead our country in all aspects," the School of Management senior said in an email.

Where is mine? My grandparents were Slovakian immigrants that came with nothing in the 1930s. They worked 15 hour days as a maid and a cook to put one child through college. So far, I have not seen any "preferred" status coming my family's way...

3 posted on 11/21/2006 6:29:32 AM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: television is just wrong

Me too. And about "b*lls," since my generation doesn't have any, it's nice to see that the next generation does.


4 posted on 11/21/2006 6:30:25 AM PST by Wage Slave (Good fences make good neighbors. -- Robert Frost)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
"While I can see the controversy over scholarships toward specific ethnic groups, we need to keep in mind its intention," she said. "The [group-specific] scholarship is there to increase the interest of students in that group to continue their education and reach the equality that we all strive for."

Apparently she's trying to imply that "people of color" are more worthy of these goals than whitey?

5 posted on 11/21/2006 6:33:46 AM PST by jiggyboy (Ten per cent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Mixed emotions about this one ... I applaud them for the gesture and throwing some gasoline on the preferences fire but I don't have an objection to groups granting private scholarships based on group identity. For example, I think the UNCF is a good organization even if their commercials give the impression that Samuel L. Jackson is their only recipient (come on, guys, surely you can cut a different commercial!!!). Why shouldn't the SAR or DAR be able to offer a scholarship based on lineage? Or a private school use a race-based scholarship to attract otherwise qualified minorities to their campus? That's the key: otherwise qualified. Still, a public institution needs to tread carefully when they start targeting subsets of the population. Perhaps it is best left up to the alumni and unaffiliated groups like the UNCF when it is not a private institution.
6 posted on 11/21/2006 6:35:04 AM PST by NonValueAdded (Prayers for our patriot brother, 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub. Brian, we're all pulling for you!)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Hey, how about Freepers chipping in $5 to this scholarship? Give me an address and my check is on the way.
7 posted on 11/21/2006 6:55:28 AM PST by taxcontrol
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To: LurkedLongEnough
La Fuerza Co-Chair Sara-Marie Pons, who is also on the Admissions Student Diversity Board, said although she agrees with BUCR's claim that racial preference is "contradictory to our American ideals of freedom and equality," she feels American history justifies today's affirmative action."

Much evil has been perpetrated by people saying, "I know its wrong, but..."

8 posted on 11/21/2006 7:02:27 AM PST by Onelifetogive (* Who? Me?)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
"For Ed Gillespie to be dismissive or to imply that there was racism, he lacked any type of -- to put it bluntly -- balls in standing up against racial preferences...

A college kid who has actually been educated about the real world...

9 posted on 11/21/2006 7:03:51 AM PST by Onelifetogive (* Who? Me?)
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To: television is just wrong
I love it !!! It's about time, I wonder if someone there is doing the "Rush" ie illustrating the absurd with absurdity ??? What's next....White Student Union?
10 posted on 11/21/2006 7:04:37 AM PST by Jeffrey_D. (Seek first to understand, then to be understood)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
"If you give out a white scholarship, it's racist, and if you give out a Hispanic scholarship, it is OK,"

I thought Hispanics were white.

11 posted on 11/21/2006 7:06:35 AM PST by VeniVidiVici (What's the one elected position Ted Kennedy has never held? Designated Driver.)
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To: television is just wrong; jiggyboy; taxcontrol; NonValueAdded; Jeffrey_D.; Onelifetogive

Bad idea.


We are looking at it from a race standpoint. Whereas many blacks identify with being black as an ethnicity.


12 posted on 11/21/2006 7:08:02 AM PST by LauraleeBraswell
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To: VeniVidiVici
I thought Hispanics were white.

Hispanics are an ethnic group, not a race.

The official line is that they can be of any race.

13 posted on 11/21/2006 7:12:07 AM PST by freespirited (The MSM is the root of all evil.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
She said she believes minority-specific scholarships serve an important function.

As a white male living in Austin, TX... I AM a minority.

Affirmative Rascism needs to go away. This PO'ed cracker has had about all he can stand of this crap.

14 posted on 11/21/2006 7:14:07 AM PST by Dead Corpse (Anyone who needs to be persuaded to be free, doesn't deserve to be.)
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To: LauraleeBraswell
Isn't Caucasian an ethnicity too? That's what it says on all the forms.

Actually, the trend is towards full-employment for genealogists since the success of the melting pot is blurring racial and ethnic lines. Consider Akaka's Hawaiian parallel government initiative where you'd have to find (and presumably document) a single Hawaiian great-grandparent. As far as African-American ancestry, will we be forced to add back words like octoroon to the US Code? It is going to come down to that. Who will qualify for a "black" scholarship? Perhaps this is what SCOTUS had in mind when setting a date for the expiry of preferences. That and the statistical likelihood that Whites would then qualify as a bona fide minority.

15 posted on 11/21/2006 7:19:26 AM PST by NonValueAdded (Prayers for our patriot brother, 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub. Brian, we're all pulling for you!)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Our country oppressed people of color for centuries while everyone else who was 'preferred' continued to succeed and lead our country in all aspects,"

And there you have it... the left's self loathing voiced through this confused young person. We can never do enough, we will never be even. We must always punish white people in the name of making up for centuries of oppression. First off, even in oppressive times, the best of people of color managed to prosper. That's not to say there wasn't oppression, and that what oppression that occurred wasn't damaging. What it does say is that people need to motivate themselves, and put their best forward. A society simply can't engineer motivation and success of a group. Need evidience? How exactly is the African American community doing these days? 150 years removed from slavery, and multiple generations into being a preferred class, and they still have major problems with avoiding "being white", (avoiding success). It's time to do as Dr. King dreamed... judge the content of one's character. Look at one's body of work, and hire/award based solely on the individual. Those that fail, that is their problem. That is how life goes. But, that's way too logical for the liberal touchy-feely mind to comprehend.
16 posted on 11/21/2006 7:20:22 AM PST by brownsfan (It's not a war on terror... it's a war with islam.)
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To: television is just wrong
La Fuerza Co-Chair Sara-Marie Pons, who is also on the Admissions Student Diversity Board, said... the university's diversity creates a "better learning environment" and "dynamic discussion." She said she believes minority-specific scholarships serve an important function.

Follow the money. What do you think an Admissions Student Diversity Board member is going to say? Eliminate my useless job? Discrimination of any kind is wrong and in fact, eliminate the useless Admissions Diversity Board?

Jim Crow laws for white people.

17 posted on 11/21/2006 7:22:46 AM PST by jackieaxe (Unsourced reporting is not reporting but a lie or a manipulation)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

Good for them. It certainly raises the debate. It also serves to flush out those who see reparations for wrongs committed to individuals in past generations as in any ways justified. Historical facts will quickly prove that those oppressed last year, were frequently the oppressors of others the year before. Reparations in any form that go beyond those directly impacted is a terrible and pernicious idea - one that will sow the seeds of significant ethnic and racial discord.


18 posted on 11/21/2006 7:28:33 AM PST by bjc (Check the data!!)
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To: television is just wrong
BU gives free tuition to convicted murderers serving time.

Unless they changed their policy.

I'm glad to see somebody at BU offering scholarships to white people so they don't have to commit murder.

19 posted on 11/21/2006 7:31:35 AM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Looking to draw attention to what they call the "worst form of bigotry confronting America today," Boston University's College Republicans are circulating an application for a "Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship" that requires applicants be at least 25 percent Caucasian.

----------------------------------------------------

Yeah, this will attract Black Americans to the party.

This is so mind-bogglingly stupid that I am tempted to think that dims-in-wolf's clothing run BU Young Republicans.

20 posted on 11/21/2006 7:35:20 AM PST by wtc911 (You can't get there from here)
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