THE CENTER for Equal Opportunity released a study Feb. 22 demonstrating that the University still considers race in the admissions process. Even though a similar study was released last year, the University continues to use racist policies.
The admissions office should reconsider its policies. Affirmative action is morally wrong and perpetuates the use of race as a social category.
The argument for this position is relatively simple. Racism is wrong. Affirmative action uses racism. Therefore, affirmative action is wrong.
Even though this argument is simple, few people are convinced by it, mostly because of the unspoken clause that hangs at the end of each premise. Instead of hearing "affirmative action uses racism," people hear "affirmative action uses racism against white males." This diminishes the force of the argument because most people have little sympathy for white males.
Many advocates of affirmative action claim that because white males have had thousands of years of dominance, use of affirmative action just levels the playing field.
Trying to rouse support to stop a policy that discriminates against white males is like trying to stop a policy that discriminates against celebrities.
"Help the white males!" just doesn't make an effective battle cry. The phrase "white male" brings to mind an old man in a business suit, reclining in a leather chair and smoking a cigar. So when one says "Help the white males!" one is more likely to get a response of laughter than support.
People should, however, attempt to look past these gross stereotypes. The argument that white males have been in a traditional position of dominance is not entirely without merit. It's true that past injustices have resulted in a disparity in the socioeconomic statuses of the races. As a group, white people are better off economically than black people. Advocates of affirmative action argue the policy is necessary to rectify these past injustices.
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The problem with affirmative action is that it does not address the past injustices that have occured. As one can see if one looks closely at our society, not all black people currently suffer from some past injustice. Many are quite fine socially and economically.
On the other hand, some white people are born into poverty because their ancestors suffered a past injustice. The white child who is born into poverty is presented with fewer opportunities than a black child who is born into suburbia.
Affirmative action ignores this key fact about society, and rewards the "discriminated against" and "disadvantaged" black student from suburbia, while doing nothing for the white child from the ghetto.
This usually is done in the name of diversity. Bring a black student to the University and suddenly we live in a much more diverse environment. It doesn't matter that the black student attended one of the Northern Virginia high schools that so many of us came from. Advocates claim the black student is adding diversity solely because of his looks.
People have revealed this argument for the chimera that it is many times before. Diversity is not found in the color of someone's skin. It is like claiming our school would be more diverse if we enrolled more redheads. Maybe it would and maybe it wouldn't. We don't know because someone's hair color isn't an indicator of who he is as a person, where he came from, what experiences he has endured, what his belief system is, what his talents and capabilities are, or his future potential. In short, enrolling more redheads would only ensure diversity in one area: hair color.
The same goes for race. Enrolling more blacks may add real diversity and it may not.
Real human diversity is not found in the color of one's skin or the color of one's hair. I have two white roommates, one Nepalese roommate, one black roommate and one Lebanese roommate. Our apartment is not made more diverse by the different colors of our skin - it is made more diverse by our individual personalities and backgrounds. Affirmative action fails to recognize what real human diversity is, and thus will never achieve the ends that the advocates of the policy claim to be seeking.
(Kelly Sarabyn's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at ksarabyn@cavalierdaily.com.)
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