Race and the Admissions Puzzle

Letters to the New York Times ^ | January 18, 2003 | Joshua S. Lamel

[Jim Noble]

To the Editor:

As a 2000 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, I was dismayed to learn that President Bush had filed a brief in support of a white student denied admission to the law school ("U.S. Says Michigan System Is Equivalent to a Quota," news article, Jan. 17).

My education would have never been as strong as it was if I had attended a segregated institution, which Michigan would become without an affirmative action program. Part of what makes Michigan Law School great is its diversity.

I fear that if the university loses the case, the law school will become 95 to 99 percent white and Asian, and that members of the top-notch faculty will run away to private schools unburdened by this decision.

I beg the Supreme Court not to overturn affirmative action, and shame on President Bush for pushing it to do so.

JOSHUA S. LAMEL Washington, Jan. 17, 2003

[Jim Noble]

This letter expresses in pure form the beliefs and motives of the white liberal supporters of affirmative action. Paragraph 2, line 1,"

"MICHIGAN WOULD BECOME A SEGREGATED INSTITUTION WITHOUT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION".

Why, Mr. Blumel? Why would the University of Michigan Law School become segregated?

Would Governor Granholm introduce legislation to make Michigan Law "whites only"? Would the legislature comply?

Or do you mean that you and your liberal friends, and your Dean, and your Administration, believe blacks are inferior, truly, deeply inferior, so much so that not one could come up to your greatness and your brilliance without twenty admission points?

Do they know this is what you think of them? Are they beginning to get it? Is that why so many stayed home in 2002, instead of turning out for the usual RATs?

Do they see General Powell, do they see Ms. Rice, do they read Dr. Sowell, do they hear Professor Williams, and do they begin to wonder, Mr. Lamel, if you are correct-that the Joshua Lamels of this world are genetically superior to all the blacks? Do they wonder if you, and your white liberal friends, are working for them or against them?

I think they do, Joshua. And that's why the days in power of your teachers and their political friends are coming to an end.

Everyone is beginning to get it.

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[netmilsmom]

Did you see Ellen RATner on Fox this morning? She said we must do so much to overcome the problems that black students have coming from Urban areas. First the other guy (sorry I don't know his name but he is no Dan Akroyd) said if you want to overcome the problems how about parental choice for schools. This was ignored. Then the black commentator injected that he is tired of people thinking we must coddle black people. That hand up is nothing but a patronizing pat on the head. RATner ignored that too. Then the blonde twit told RATner how they need to keep her because she is SOOOO energetic! I nearly RALPHED. To top it off, RATner was given 2 minutes to AGAIN explain her treasonous remarks on Neil Cavuto. The whole love fest made me sick at 7:00 in the morning.

[Clara Lou]

Nice post. You said it all.

[eccentric]

I have more than a dozen grandchildren. I'm white, my husband was Hispanic and our grandchildren range from Blacks to blonds. Most of them attend the public schools in this town. Now someone tell me why my half-black grandchildren, or even Hispanic grandchildren should get a preference over my blond grandchildren in anything.

[muawiyah]

This kid just loves AA at University of Michigan because it kept out the sons of daughters of those dirty old hillbillies who worked in the automotive industry foundaries and assembly lines.

He undoubtedly felt more "diverse" sitting next to the son or daughter of an African American lawyer groaning under the weight of the money he sucks out of the poor folks who live in his slum housing.

Just gimme' that 20 points boss.

[TLBSHOW]

Here is the upshot: The president's compelling speech certainly suggested he was taking on the whole issue of race-based preferences. This is why everybody was so excited. This is why you want a conservative in the White House, to stop a mess like affirmative action. It pits groups of people against each other and it stigmatizes people who benefit from it. There's nothing positive about it. The president's opponents predictably in their criticism certainly suggested that he was taking on the issue of race-based preferences.

After hearing the president speak, and from that reaction from the left, the press, pundits and all the rest of us concluded that Bush was challenging racial preferences in college admissions. But his administration's brief - I'm sorry to say, folks - doesn't do that.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_011703/content/truth_detector.guest.html

[arthurus]

Why, Mr. Blumel? Why would the University of Michigan Law School become segregated?

Here, in the proverbial nutshell, is the liberal view- that the lesser races, blacks and hispanics simply do not have the capability of getting into good schools on their own merits or of succeeding at anything. They must be taken by the hand and put ahead of members of the superior race in order to attain fairness. Liberals cannot think of people other than themselves as individuals and certainly cannot think of groups other than their own group as having intelligence and abilty.

On the other hand liberals seem to feel that Asians have somehow have cunningly and unfairly gained some sort of ability to get better scores than anyone else and force themselves into the school in unseemly numbers.

[Jim Noble]

Read my post again.

I do NOT believe the University of Michigan Law School would become segregated without Affirmative Action.

My challenge to the letter writer, and I guess now to you as well-if you believe that the University of Michigan Law School (or anything else) would become segregated without Affirmative Action:

Why?

[arthurus]

Now, how about Candidate C, who is quite intelligent, but is suffering from a lack of challenge in a lower class school. Doesn't he deserve just as much of a chance?

Yes, he deserves just as much a chance. He does not deserve to be put ahead of others who score better. He may have great native intelligence buit if he has not developed it by the time he is 17 or 18, for whatever reason,he will likely not perform so well in college and will not get as much benefit from the educationl resources used as will the kid who had all the advantages. If he does have that great intelligence and does develop a bit of ambition then he will get into a school that is not Harvard but in which he is more likely to succeed.

The answer to this problem is to fix the primary and secondary schools or to shut them down altogether and put education on a market basis with vouchers.

[FReepaholic]

>>...Part of what makes Michigan Law School great is its diversity...<<

Throughout all this I've been hearing: "We cannot achieve our goal of diversity without affirmative action...yada, yada, yada..."

Why should any university's goal be diversity??? Shouldn't their goal be EDUCATION???!!!

[umgud]

Too few minorities attend college and for those who do, affirmative action sends the signal that their lack of preparation will be handicapped to make up the difference. This is what rubs people the wrong way, especially people who worked hard to prepare themselves.

The reason these people aren't prepared to enter college has nothing to do with racism. It has solely to do with lack of effort. All the screaming about our crummy school system (and much of it is) aslo doesn't wash as a reason for these people to be ill-prepared. It is common for poor Asian and other students to attend these same crummy schools and move on to higher education.

Consider the case of a brand new school built in a blighted urban area. This is a state of the art facility which opens with the best of everything, including staff. Within a few years, the maintenence crews have all but given up on repairing graffitti and vandalism, the staff realizes that a too large percent of the students have no desire to learn and those who do can't function in the environment of disfunction and fear created by gang bangers and others. The best staff leave to better assignments, the school is run down and can't attract good teachers, the student body has ceased to be educated and then......................Maxine Waters screams the schools are failing and need more money.

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[gitmo]

My challenge to the letter writer, and I guess now to you as well-if you believe that the University of Michigan Law School (or anything else) would become segregated without Affirmative Action:

Why?

I see three possible reasons:
1. Blacks are genetically incapable of succeeding.
2. The schools blacks are attending are incapable of preparing people for college.
3. Universities purposely discriminate against black.

I think AA has demonstrated that #3 is not the root cause.

Experience teaches that #1 is not the root cause. I've known too many outstanding exceptions.

That leaves #2: The schools are incapable of preparing students for college. There's only one viable solution to this problem being discussed: School Choice. Give the parents of children in this country the ability to select the best schools for their kids.

[nomorecameljocks]

I have been extremely put out by the statements of the new President of Oklahoma State University that "diversity" is his number one priority. OSU also announced that it was one of the leaders in international student enrollment.
It would seem that a better objective would be to provide a quality, affordable education for the more gifted resident students of Oklahoma, regardless of their race, etc. This said following massive tuition increases over the past few years.

Who pays for these international students? If they pay their way and qualify, that's one thing. If they get a pass thats a serious problem in my opinion.

[RWG]

If joshua is not a minority why didn't he go to grambling?

[KC_for_Freedom]

Actually, the experience at UC Berkeley showed that the school did not become segregated. Nor did it become overrun by Asians (as was also predicted). There are more minorities now at Berkeley than before under a system of admission points for race.

The fact is that when race preferences were removed, only the challenge of the college remained and more minorities rose to that challenge. Those who could not make admissions went to colleges with less competition and graduated. Much better for their future I believe, than being given a free pass into a highly competitive school and then graduating on minority studies curriculum or dropping out of traditional curricula.

[antaresequity]

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[TLBSHOW]

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