On the heels of Florida's decision last week to eliminate race as a factor in its public universities' admissions process, African-American Affairs Dean M. Rick Turner addressed concerns on the use of race as a factor in admissions at a University Democrats meeting last night.
In his speech, Turner emphasized the need to preserve the use of race as a factor in admissions.
"As long as there's white racism in the country, race will always matter," he said.
He spoke of the sacrifices made by civil rights activists in the 1960's during the civil rights struggle.
"People were dying for the cause of equal opportunity," Turner said.
Turner also encouraged black students not to believe the University accepted them only because of their race and not on their individual merit.
"We have an outstanding admissions office - they didn't make any mistakes," he said. "Because of a stereotyped threat that walks with African-American students, they feel like [affirmative action] is a badge of shame."
It would be "the dumbest thing in the world" for universities to accept students solely on the basis of skin color, he added.
Turner also stressed the importance of black student involvement at the University, and called on black faculty members to speak out in support of affirmative action.
"African-Americans are the most apathetic group on Grounds," he said, urging more activism within the black community.
"It's strange and depressing for so few voices to be heard ... you have to commit yourself and put a question mark in the minds of some people" who oppose affirmative action, he added.
Turner encouraged students to bring concerns about race-based admissions to the attention of the Board of Visitors.
He also called on historically black fraternities and sororities to take a more active role in supporting race-based admissions policies.
"I just want these groups to be more constructive ... the only way you can change things and have a voice is by joining," he said.
Turner said that some people may oppose the use of race as a factor in admissions in order to discourage some minority students from applying to selective colleges and universities.
"When black students see a school embroiled in controversy, they might say, 'I'm going to another school,'" he said.
In closing, Turner said intellectual dialogue was necessary to shed more light on the topic of race-based admissions policies and suggested that the University organize more planned meetings in order to discuss the affirmative action issue.
"Cussing and fussing is not going to work. Unless the University community looks to galvanize this and come up with solutions, nothing is going to happen," he said.
Former University Democrats President Rhodes Ritenour said about 60 students attended the speech, and the audience was "50 percent African-American and 100 percent Democratic."
Ritenour said while the audience composition gave the impression that Turner was "preaching to the choir," the remarks were still inspiring and brought attention to the problems of equality throughout the nation.
"I think the University has a long way to go [in establishing equal opportunity]," Ritenour said, adding that he views the entire nation's problems as an extension of those issues at the University.
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