Not So Affirmative - Is "diversity" on campus even a goal worth pursuing?

WSJ ^ | April 3, 2003 | John Fund

[Tailgunner Joe]

Diversity. Everyone talks about it. Everyone pledges support for it. It has become a civic religion. It is the backbone of the University of Michigan's legal argument before the Supreme Court this week: that racial discrimination is acceptable if the purpose is to achieve diversity.

[cyborg]

Want to know how to solve this problem? If high school students and college transfers don't check off any boxes. What will the race pimps do then?

[Tailgunner Joe]

I always check the box that says "Native American."

[Age of Reason]

If a white student applied as black, how could they prove he lied?

Anyone know?

[cyborg]

LOL... I used to write, official member of the human race.

[Timesink]

I learned more about black culture in college from a white guy from New Hampshire than I ever did from any black students.

[Timesink]

Want to know how to solve this problem? If high school students and college transfers don't check off any boxes. What will the race pimps do then?

Right now, they just send the forms back and demand you answer and resubmit or not apply at all.

[cyborg]

They wouldn't. My sister did, and no one ever asked and she got the scholarship.

[nonliberal]

Here is the solution:

On every college admittance form have a question like "Do you believe diversity is an acceptable goal of college admissions and that minorities should be given preferential treatment?"

If a white person checks "yes" they are denied admittance and a minority is admitted in their place.

[cyborg]

That's really strange. Most college applications have race classification as optional. I know I'm applying to at least one university down south and it's optional. It's none of their business, and I wouldn't apply to an institution that demanded to know my 'race'.

[Orangedog]

I'd check all of the boxes and let them sort it out.

[tophat9000]

You know the question would like to ask

So if about having a "diversity" of races on campus then along with a minimum there would be a maximum number of each races allowed in to you school

So what is your maximum number of each race you will allow in you school?

[95Tarheel]

All of this is designed to promote diversity, which defendant Lee Bollinger (formerly president of the University of Michigan, now at Columbia) has said is "as essential" to education "as the study of the Middle Ages, of international politics and of Shakespeare.

I wonder if Lee Bollinger would be surprised to know that a lot of people graduate with a liberal arts education without much studying much of any of those three subjects. Usually, one or two classes from each categorty is required: history, poly sci, and literature.

You certainly don't have to study any of those three specific subjects to graduate from most colleges. I guess they really aren't that essential then, are they? How essential (vs desired) is diversity, I wonder....

[supercat]

If a white student applied as black, how could they prove he lied?

Wonder what would happen if one of my classmates filled in "African American" on a job application? She was born in Africa, and is now a U.S. citizen, so "African American" would seem accurate and descriptive. She's white, of course, but I'd still say she's "African American".

[Fixit]

[WFTR]

Is diversity a good thing? Generally yes

Is it a "goal worth pursuing?" That depends on how it is pursued.

The school should admit the most qualified students. In determining the most qualified students, the school should look first at SAT and ACT scores and high school academic performance. In looking at these numbers, the school should recognize that some differences are not real. For instance, the difference between an 1100 and a 1090 on the SAT is not real. The difference between a 3.5 and 3.6 in high school may or may not be real depending on the schools from which the students came and the classes that they took. An 1100 from a kid with some disadvantages may indicate greater academic achievement than an 1150 from a kid whose rich parents sent him to classes designed to teach him how to pass the SAT. On the other hand, it may just indicate a fifty point weaker score.

Once a school has determined which students are most qualified based on academic performance, there's nothing wrong with using some "diversity" factors to fill a few remaining slots in the freshman class. When two hundred kids who are roughly equal in academic qualifications are competing for the last twenty of a thousand spots, none of them can truly claim discrimation for not getting that spot. If someone isn't good enough to make it in the first 980 spots based on academic qualifications, then not being picked for one of the last twenty isn't a matter of discrimination. I'm not saying that all twenty of these bottom spots should go to minority students. "Diversity" should include all kinds of other factors as well.

Another point is that if minorities depend on these "diversity" spots to advance, then they've already lost. Sometimes the last kid picked for the freshman class works hard and succeeds over most of the rest of the class. However, if that kid was depending on skin color to be selected, that kid is unlikely to have the drive to succeed.

Most of us who've been to college enjoyed the diversity that we found there. We also recognize that much of what is done today in the name of "diversity" is more likely to destroy the real diversity that can make the college experience so enriching. I think Michigan should drop its racist way of scoring potential candidates, but that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate true diversity.

For the record, diversity is a good thing, but it's not what has made our nation strong. I'm currently working on a commentary on that issue. Diversity is nice, but it's not our strength.

WFTR
Bill

[speekinout]

I went to college ages ago. The college did want diversity, but they defined that as having students from different income levels, urban as well as suburban and rural backgrounds, and from different states and countries. Everyone did have to have equivalent SATs and GPAs.
I think that was diverse. Much more than the current "diversity" which can be based only on skin color. If you have only students whose parents are doctors or lawyers, there's no diversity, even if you have a range of skin colors.

[Tailgunner Joe]

The Socialist mask comes off of Affirmative Action. The truth is that Affirmative Action has always been about class warfare and the redistribution of wealth.

[mrustow]

For your claim to be true, TJ, AA would haved to have traditionally benefited the poor. But in fact, it has traditionally benefited middle and upper-middle-class blacks, Hispanics, and white women.

[San Jacinto]

I would postulate that the more "affirmative action" that takes place, the less actual "diversity" you will have. Currently, there is a strong movement toward on-campus segregation which is actually encouraged by the promoters of the new form of racial discrimination called affirmative action. Many African American students can now go through their entire stay at college without any inter-action with other races, ensconched as they are in their exclusively Afro-centric groups and programs.

If students were admitted on the basis of individual merit, there would be less emphasis on racial divisions, and thus more real inter-action between individuals without regard to race.