Sunday, February 15, 2004

"Whites only scholarship"

I guess affirmative action bake sales are passe, so whites only scholarships are the next new thing.

I confess, I think the bake sales are one thing, but this strikes me as different. Do the Roger Williams University College Republicans really think that essay prompts such as "why you are proud of your white heritage" are going to help the anti-affirmative action platform? Frankly, if I were pro-affirmative action, I would try to infiltrate a college Republicans group and get them to do something this stupid.

Why stupid? I'm not really sure. Is there something categorically different about this? Not that I can really come up with. But the actual "white heritage" sort of approach strikes a little close to home. Not my home, but the home of racists. If I were on the fence with regard to affirmative action, something like this would not help me come to some realization about its inherent unfairness. Rather, it simply strikes me as sounding (whether it is or not) racist and certainly isn't conducive to open dialogue.

Plus, it appears that the president of the College Republicans, a Puerto Rican, is receiving a scholarship intended only for minority students. Frankly, I would be much more impressed if he renounced his scholarship.

No comments:

Blog Archive