For UMass, a good long look in the mirror

UMass Daily Collegian ^ | 2/13/08 | Lerner

[pabianice]

February is designated "Black History Month." Thus, it feels rather appropriate to bring up some black history and relate it to UMass. In short, UMass's black history, like this nation's black history, reflects pretty poorly on the school's treatment of blacks.

The figures for minority and Afro-American access are dismal and do not look like they are getting much better unless drastic changes occur. This is a tragic and untenable phenomenon that must be dealt with.

If we look around the UMass campus, sometimes it feels like Hitler won WWII and somehow managed to invade and conquer the United States as well. The scene is a veritable ocean of white faces, somewhat similar to a polar bear in a snow storm. Now, as rational college students with very expensive and prestigious educations, we must know that not everybody in the country is of European descent, and that there are people who were brought here as slaves several hundred years ago from Africa. Interestingly, one is hard pressed to find this population represented on campus. In fact, the numbers of African-American students enrolled are shocking. Even though they make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, African-Americans don't top 5 percent of the UMass population.

This is a case of discrimination. Obviously the administration will not admit this blatant fact, but discrimination can take many different forms and can be deliberate or subconscious. An ingenious method of the racist power structure is to change the discrimination from strictly racially-based assessments, such as "we can't take no n---ers here," which did exist, to "we can only consider financially suitable applicants for admission to the University," the current justification for racist admissions policies. One question is, if the University isn't racist, then where are the people who don't look like everyone else?

[AppyPappy]

UMass. A liberal strongehold of white oppression. HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

I love it

[Lancey Howard]

Heh. College kids haven't changed much over the decades - - still fat, drunk, and stupid.

"...and that there are people who were brought here as slaves several hundred years ago from Africa. Interestingly, one is hard pressed to find this population represented on campus.

I think the solution is to convene a special "outreach" committee to determine how best to attract people who were brought here as slaves several hundred years ago from Africa. Personally, I would like to know how they lived so long.

[Lancey Howard]

This article will establish Mr. Lerner’s bonafides when he looks for employment with the MSM.

Oh, "Lerner". I thought it said "Lemer".

[Dmitry Vukicevich]

Oh great, what is the “evil white man” responsible for this time?

[Gay State Conservative]

I think Bill Cosby went to Temple.

TV ads that UMass frequently run here feature Cosby as an alum.Of course he could have gotten a graduate degree at Temple.

[pabianice]

Mr. Cosby, whatever his achievements, got a pass at UMass. The Liberals there so wanted to give a black man a doctorate that they did just that. Mr. Cosby was excused from most required academic work and his doctoral dissertation — a paper on his cartoon show “Fat Albert” — is reportedly so badly written that it has been sealed away in violation of the school’s and state’s open records laws. Of late, Mr. Cosby seems to feel some remorse for having taken advantage of the black student double standard so flaunted at schools like UMass.