Nationwide Protest of Affirmative Action

NoRace.org ^

[JeremyYoder]

New Web Site Uses Civil Disobedience to Protest Affirmative Action

http://www.NoRace.org

On it, prospective college and grad school students can log on and sign an “action petition” stating that they will intentionally misreport their races on college admissions applications. The site will not reveal their names (we want them to get accepted), but will reveal how many applicants from each school have signed the petition. Signers are given an official letter of protest to present to any Dean of Admissions that gives them grief because of their skin color.

I thought you might be interested.

[JeremyYoder]

Most of my reasoning comes from reading Shelby Steele. He had an essay in a business ethics course I took that got me interested in the subject in the first place. I've read most of his stuff since then and find it very persuasive. Again, I'm not a lobbyist (and have fled from my family's lawyerly persuasion), so there are lots of other people out there who have better things to say than I.

He's the primary one from whom I've gotten the information about drop out rates, minority stigma and the victim mentality.

While Dinesh D'Sousa isn't the most qualified writer on these matters, he does a pretty good job of summing up what others have to say about the dropout rates. It's a pretty interesting issue.

If I could specify one recent piece that most closely sums up my views of affirmative action, it would have to be a column by Roger Clegg.
http://www.nationalreview.com/clegg/clegg021403.asp

[JeremyYoder]

Oh, yeah. I forgot to link to one of D'Souza's pieces. http://aad.english.ucsb.edu/docs/D-Souza.html

[only1percent]

You are deliberately mispresenting the admission statistics utilized in Grutter.

It is BEYOND DISPUTE that LSAT, undergradute GPA, and mean LSAT of undergraduate institution (used to norm GPAs of less and more competitive colleges with one another) are collectively the OVERWHELMING factor in all race-neutral admission decisions, and similarly beyond dispute that by those three quantitative measures the black and hispanic admitted pool at Michigan was far below that of the whit/asian admitted pool AND that of the first statistical cohort of rejected white/asian applicants.

The majority in Grutter basically said that as long as the Law School CLAIMED that it was making a holistic decision and pointed to non-racial factors that it considered, that this was acceptable. It is all about the SHOW and not about the SUBSTANCE, because the SUBSTANCE is eminently clear that the black and latino applicant pool was separately considered with regard to the decisive quantitative measures and admitted until a critical mass was obtained, regardless of how many white or asian candidates had to be rejected to accomdate it.

And, of course, the proof is the pudding -- what percentage of the summa cum laude and magna cum laude graduates are black and latino? What percentage in the merit slots on Law Review? (Although reducing merit slots is a key piece of the affirmative action agenda, it hasn't gotten too far yet)

Looking at these stats, what does the lobby demand? MORE seminars and other non-anonuymous subjectively graded classes (when lectures grade anonymously)? MORE affirmative action from law firms hiring associates and judges hiring clerks? Bar association mentorship programs and retention targets so that law firms are penalized for not keeping on black and latino associates? And, finally, agitation with big business and governments to not hire law firms which haven't elected a suitable number of black and latino partners?

[JeremyYoder]

Woah. I. Am. In. Awe.

Finally someone in here who is making a serious argument to make up for my lack of coherency!

Feeeeeel the wrath of Javelinaaaaaaaa!

(Sorry, Javelina. I think I'm up a bit too late).

[takenoprisoner]

Where's the evidence they lied?

[Concerned]

PABIANICE WROTE: "A good friend and former Liberal told me that she has told her four kids to leave blank the "race" catagory on their college admissions."

Just put the TRUTH:

Race: Other---HUMAN

[takenoprisoner]

Like you, I have often wondered what must these masses of protestors do for a living beyond protest. Are they professional protestors?

We work and support our families paying unbearable taxes while others have the time to protest.

Truth is the wheel which squeaks the most always gets the oil. And until people who work and pay the taxes decide to protest themselves, they will remain the slaves that they are. Such is their destiny.

[monkey]

Do the schools verify race? Are there guidelines/required documentation?

[JeremyYoder]

As far as my research can tell (which is far from exhaustive), it varies quite a bit from school to school. Some highschool transcripts reveal race (but students are legally entitled to see their transcripts). Federal Student aid applications ask for race, and schools ask to see those. In the FAQ section, I recommend leaving race blank on the FAFSA, so as not to be getting into federal trouble, but it's up to the student.

Also, there are probably quite a few other things that could reveal race about which a student must be careful.

The hope is that they'll get admitted, then cause a stir when they get there that will hopefully lead to some publicity of the issue if they handle it right.

BTW, I've had inquiries from several people who are minorities about signing on. They support the idea, but are worried about marking themselves as "white" or "asian" because their chances then won't be as good. In the FAQ, I mention this. It's all up to one's conscience.

[FITZ]

Is it a crime to misrepresent your ancestory?

How can it be? No one really knows their ancestory very well anyhow.

[FITZ]

I've heard of folks changing their name to Hernandez so they qualify for Hispanic affirmative action.

I knew a guy who was going to do exactly that if he wasn't accepted into medical school because he is white. Legally change his name to a hispanic one, become a doctor, then legally change it back. That's all legal.

[monkey]

It's a clever idea, but I doubt it will get much publicity, given the leanings of the press. By presenting a letter of protest, you are making the school's job easy, and making the protester's life difficult. They'll be kicked out of school with an honors violation, and may not be accepted elsewhere in the future. I doubt you'll get much participation - how many people are going to disrupt their lives so significantly for this protest?

Why not skip the letter of protest? Isn't race just a social construct, according to deconstructionists and trendy scientists?

If it gets around that certain race boxes will increase your chance for admission, without reprecussion, students will start to do it, en masse. The university's only recourse would be to assign racial categories. That would get publicity, and be incredibly awkward for the schools, who would have to lay out racial criteria and methods of verification. Imagine the "color bar" protests you could mount. Don't accept the affirmative action framework, and it will fall apart - or at least its blatant racism will be exposed.

Racial classification criteria and verification methods would be the basis for an interesting supreme court case.

[moneyrunner]

The reply you received in #44 seems to have blown your arguments with a student out of the water.

Further, your condescending attitude (crayons?) sends a not so subtle message about your own intellectual superiority. Well, you seem to be trying to perpetrate an intellectual fraud on a student. Very poor taste.

[JeremyYoder]

The letter of protest is sort of an optional thing. The site provides it to them at the end, as sort of some cover if administrators give them problems.

I have my doubts as well over whether this will get much participation. It is certainly a big deal to protest this in such a way. I just thought, "I'll never know unless I give it a shot." So, this is sort of a "'shot' in the dark."

[JeremyYoder]

Also, I wanted to comment on the liberal media thing. Yes, that's certainly something to overcome. I'd certainly take an even a negatively slanted story in the national media, but that probably won't even happen unless I get some conservative outlets on the web and on TV to take interest. I've written off a few emails a couple of days ago, and I should probably send out more. Anybody have any ideas on how to promote this thing?

[JeremyYoder]

Second, I'm not the one trying to get students to risk their college careers in order to make a misguided moral statement.

Miguided? Maybe. Moral? Yes.

[moneyrunner]

Dear Javelina,

I can understand how you will go to great lengths to support affirmative action since you admit to being a member of a group that benefits from affirmative action. Some people would be ashamed of winning a race in which they received a head start; others will accept the prize and think nothing of its ultimate unfairness.

You have made several misstatements. You claim that “lying about race doesn’t garner you any advantage…” That is a misleading statement since claiming to be of a certain race DOES garner you an advantage at certain schools, including U of M. Otherwise there would be absolutely no reason why the admissions process at U of M would take race into consideration.

Second, how is it possible to prove a person’s race? Are we to use skin color as a determining factor? Eye color? Hair texture? DNA testing? If I appear white but claim that I have a black, Asian or Spanish ancestor can you prove me wrong? Perhaps we should take lessons from the South Africans and hand out racial identity cards.

When I arrived in this country many years ago, many minorities – of all kinds and various colors – were discriminated against. Their objective at that time was to be viewed as individuals and allowed to compete on an equal footing with their fellow countrymen. Once they achieved “protected” status, however, they found that the benefits of preferences are hard to forgo. So today, they are fighting as hard as any Georgia cracker of the 1950s to maintain their racial preferences.

So today, it may be necessary for the JeremyJoders of this world to throw the kind of sand in the gears of modern racism that the freedom riders of the 1960s threw into Jim Crow. You should remember that they, too, were breaking the law. They were often taken to jail, not just thrown out of school. There are worse things than suffering for your principles, such as giving them up for racial preferences. So I, for one, applaud JeremyJoder.