Affirmative Action in higher education gets a pass when it skews towards white folk
9th September 2019 · 0 Comments
As the college admission scandal rolls on with 33 wealthy parents in the eye of the storm and in the courts charged with bribery, fraud, and a host of other charges, the dirty little secret is out for all to see—that admissions to a university or college are being bought and sold, with the primarily beneficiaries of this de facto Affirmative Action policy being the children of wealthy whites.
In short, what we now are seeing is a conspiratorial policy that is tantamount to an Affirmative Action Policy for whites only.
So, where is the outcry over an affirmative action policy that appears to be set up for whites only?
When universities and colleges put Affirmative Action policies in place (to force diversity at campuses where admission officials, generally whites, blocked access to students of color) there was a huge backlash from whites who screamed and went to court alleging ‘reverse discrimination.’
In the case of Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke, Allan Bakke, who sued the University of California at Davis medical school in 1973 for “reverse discrimination.” Believing he would have qualified had Davis not reserved 16 of its 100 places for minority candidates, he sued as a victim of discrimination. The court affirmed the principle of affirmative action, endorsing those programs that made race only one of many factors to consider, while prohibiting strict quota systems, and ordering the university to admit Bakke, who is white.
In the most recent major ruling on the issue, 2016’s Fisher v. University of Texas, the court upheld race-sensitive admissions policies at the University of Texas–Austin on a 4–3 vote.
This year, however, affirmative action admission policies that use race, as one factor, are again heating up in the courts. The Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University lawsuit filed in 2014, has been on and popping since the Fisher decision. Thousands of pages of documents have been submitted to a federal district court judge in a lawsuit charging that Harvard University’s admissions policies favor Black and Latino applicants at the expense of Asian American applicants.
If the SFFA v Harvard is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, it could lead to a ban on the consideration of race, as a factor for college admissions.
Meanwhile, as has been the case historically, he who has the gold makes the rules.
The under-the-radar affirmative action program for whites in college admission has been in place since forever. Under the auspices of “legacy” admissions, white men and women have benefitted tremendously; getting seats at prestigious universities, while decrying affirmative action programs for people of color.
During the administration of George W. Bush, its overseers brought fewer cases alleging systematic discrimination against minorities and more alleging reverse discrimination against whites, like a 2006 lawsuit forcing Southern Illinois University to stop reserving certain fellowship programs for women or members of underrepresented racial groups, according to one news report.
“Bush was admitted to Yale in 1964 under an affirmative-action policy for children of alumni — what colleges call a “legacy” system. “Legacy” policies — preferential treatment of children of alumni — are the quintessential example of the “old boys’ network.” Colleges view them as a way to get into the pockets of rich alumni,” a news report confirmed. Bush’s father George H.W. Bush and his grandfather Prescott Bush (former Republican U.S. Senator) also attended Yale. In fact, as a student, Bush studied in the Yale library’s Prescott Walker Bush Memorial Wing.
We’re not surprised that Trump is on the students’ side in the Harvard lawsuit. Even before he was inaugurated, the now Racist-in-Chief Trump pledged to direct the Justice Department’s civil rights division to investigate and sue universities over affirmative action admissions policies deemed to discriminate against white applicants, according to a document obtained by The New York Times.
But what is galling about Trump’s anti-diversity position against affirmative action policies in higher education is that Donald Trump, who calls himself “a stable genius” was a legacy admit to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. His brother, Fred Trump Jr. called an old classmate who worked in admissions and got an interview for Trump, who transferred from Fordham University to Wharton in his junior year. Trump holds a B.S. degree from Wharton.
News reports say that Trump has donated at least $1.4 million to the University of Pennsylvania and that his some of his donations “coincided with the enrollment of Don Jr. in 1996 and Ivanka in 2000. Tiffany Trump attended the university in 2004.
The year Don Jr. enrolled as an undergrad, Trump donated more than $100,000 to the Penn Club of New York after years of being minimally involved. And Trump was distinguished in a ‘President’s Circle’ list honoring donors who made ‘gifts of $1,000,000 to $4,999,999’ between 1996 and 2003.
How’s that for paying to play?
Clearly, race continues to be a factor for college admission officers to consider because, underreported by mainstream media is the fact that America, writ large, is still dealing with institutionalized racism, in this, the 400th year after kidnapped Africans arrived on its shores.
We agree with one person who commented online about the Harvard lawsuit. “Harvard should switch to strictly race-blind admission with ever applicant judged on the exact same criteria and not worry about what percentage of the student body any particular race is.”
In fact, all universities should have a race-blind admission policy. But that will happen….never.
So, our advice to people of color, especially Black people, is to attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities where you will be accepted, taught, nurtured, and respected for your academic accomplishments and your culture and where you won’t have to struggle to be accepted, or make friends, or deal with white supremacist attitudes.
This article originally published in the September 9, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
