- Carl Peaslee on Summer Stories Series: "The form is fixed now. It is at the bottom of the post...."
- Kelsey Brown on Letters to Freshmen: The High School Sweetheart: "I believe what she meant was that if you are consumed by your relation..."
- missed the point on Letters to Freshmen: The High School Sweetheart: "I think my name says it..."
- in a relationship on Letters to Freshmen: The High School Sweetheart: "why can't someone feel satisfied with their relationship and be happy ..."
- Jillian on Pimp My Campus: "oooh, new walkway! so excited to see it when I get back!!..."
CMC, Please Discriminate Against White People
CMC recently announced its admissions decisions, so the affirmative action debate is likely to reemerge on campus as it always does during this time of year. Therefore, I want to clarify some issues in this debate and present my arguments for why CMC should discriminate against people like me: whiteys from California.
To begin, conservatives are right about at least one thing as it relates to affirmative action programs: any form of positive discrimination is discrimination against whites in the non-pejorative sense of the word. Any program that actively helps bring underrepresented minorities to campus (whether they are religious, racial, economic, or geographic minorities) decreases the likelihood of any single applicant from the overrepresented group being admitted compared to not having the program. The question is whether or not this type of discrimination is justifiable.
Ultimately, I believe affirmative action programs at CMC are justifiable because diversity of all forms enhances the college experience. A classroom discussion of racial politics in the US is probably more insightful when there are students of different racial backgrounds in the class. Economic diversity on campus means that affluent students might actually befriend a kid from a poor family for the first time in their life and have greater appreciation for the tremendous advantages they’ve had. As a personal example, I recently had a conversation about immigration with a classmate whose parents are first generation immigrants. The student’s experiences personalized the discussion in a meaningful and valuable way. This valuable diversity on campus might happen without CMC’s affirmative action programs of course, but their continuation is the only guarantee that CMC does not become even more inundated with white people from California. These significant benefits of guaranteed diversity are contrasted with a low cost of affirmative action programs. Since CMC is incredibly selective and has a surplus of exceptionally qualified applicants, I imagine that it can achieve at least some diversity of all forms through its affirmative action programs without having to make meaningful reductions in the admissions standards for students of underrepresented groups. The CMC admissions department balances the value of achieving diversity against the cost of taking some students with slightly lower SAT scores and GPAs (just like it does with admissions for some athletes). We may disagree on what exactly this balance should be, but I am utterly confused by opponents of CMC’s affirmative action programs who reject this balancing test entirely.
Opponents of affirmative action as CMC policy will dispute that the program has net benefits for CMC. I encourage them to make their counterarguments on this point in the comments section, but please do so with a focus on CMC since my argument does not necessarily apply to positive discrimination programs at other colleges (and I am frequently accused by unnamed parties of writing posts for The Forum that are not relevant to CMC). At this point, however, I want to handle another commonly cited objection to affirmative action: the claim that the program is unfair because less qualified students take acceptances away from more qualified students who are more deserving of a CMC education. I don’t think we should give this objection as much weight as it commonly receives because moral desert should have little relevance to CMC admission policy. Admissions officers look at past academic performance as a guide to determine how a student will perform at CMC, but do not believe that past performance by itself should count in favor of a student being admitted. An admissions officer would never say, “I will admit this student because she has a 2400 SAT score and a 4.0 GPA even though I know her agoraphobia will make her a failure at CMC.”
Even if we believe moral desert is a fair consideration in CMC admissions policy, however, shouldn’t thriving as a racial minority in a society still corrupted by racism count for something? We have made huge strides as a society eliminating most forms of overt racism, but subconsciously held racist views are still quite prevalent and damaging to young black children. I think that a black student who overcomes widespread racism, but has slightly lower grades and SAT scores than a white student, is at least equally deserving of admission. In response, those opposed to race-based affirmative action often complain that it unfairly hurts poor whites while helping rich blacks. This protest is simply an argument for current CMC admissions policy in which affirmative action programs consider both race and socioeconomic status (unless one believes that overcoming poverty is morally relevant, but overcoming racism is not). Again, I think “fairness” in regards to affirmative action is beside the point. For those who think fairness matters, however, the most fair admissions policy is a holistic one that values past academic achievement as most important, but also considers a student’s economic and racial barriers to achievement. As a white male from California, I was undoubtedly disadvantaged by CMC’s affirmative action programs and I will surely face a similar dynamic when applying to graduate school. Even so, I say to the CMC admissions office: please discriminate against people like me.
More posts by Charlie »
Charlie Sprague
I love to debate, but I hate it when people take arguments about their politics personally. I love to travel for free. It's one of the best things I've gotten from my CMC education. Sunday is often the most frustrating day of my week (I'm a 49ers fan).
Recent
21 Comments
2009-03-31
18:18:35
Funny Story: Last year my sister was wait-listed at CMC. She was white but a geographic minority, had high SATs, a high GPA, stellar extracurriculars, great essays, and an active, high-achieving brother on campus. Somehow, though, the other students who got in from our high school were more attractive to Admissions. One of them was a white Jewish boy from a wealthy family with lower SATs, a lower GPA, and less leadership than my sister. BUT, he actively lied on his application and said he was black. My high school found out what he did and notified CMC after decisions were released...what did CMC do? They still still accepted him. He didn't come, though, because CMC "wasn't diverse enough."
This isn't entirely relevant to Charlie's words, but I thought it would be interesting to share.
2009-03-31
19:24:40
Is it really necessary to point out what tribe he was from?
2009-03-31
19:35:46
why did you mention what religion he was? you didn't share your sister's with us. give us a break.
2009-03-31
20:07:10
As another white person (not from California), I'd like to second and expand on Charlie's argument.
Another refrain I've heard from the anti-affirmative-action crowd is a general suspicion that cultural/racial/economic diversity does not substantively improve education. I don't buy this claim-- it seems to me that experiences that make us think of issues with less abstraction are often helpful-- but it's also worth noting that this worry oversimplifies the role CMC plays in our lives.
In addition to providing an education, CMC provides opportunities for personal growth in other areas. We come here to get a head start on careers, build friendships (or, if you prefer, make contacts), and participate culturally. These things aren't side effects, they're part of the college product. Think about it: CMC funds our internships, buys our booze, and subsidies concerts. Creating a student body sensitive to diversity is part of this project of promoting personal growth, which is part of the college product.
2009-03-31
21:00:52
Sorry, I didn't really mean anything from mentioning his religion, I just remember that was part of the story (His mom calling CMC before she called the high school: "Hi, I think there was a mistake. You just sent my son a diversity scholarship announcement. He's Jewish!")
2009-03-31
22:07:54
Ultimately the aim of the CMC affirmative action policies ought to be allowing students that are economically disadvantaged to attend this school, rather than members of ethnic minority groups. Although many of those students are ethnic minorities, there are also white people from California that fit the bill. Ultimately looking at a student's economic background gives a better perspective on whether they were given academic opportunities. Giving admission and scholarships in this way would include the students Charlie talks about as well as a substantial group of otherwise overlooked and under-served applicants.
2009-03-31
23:48:43
Full response to come on my blog, but I thought I would point this out. Well done, Charlie Sprague. I usually don't get as worked up about these things anymore.
If you believe that there are "underrepresented minorities" does it not also follow that there are "overrepresented minorities" like Jews and Asians? If so, would you favor trading lesser qualified blacks and Latinos for higher qualified Asians? I wouldn't. I would favor race-blind admissions.
That, of course, is the dirty secret of affirmative action on campus.
As for the canard that diversity enhances education, Bowling Alone scholar Robert Putnam found that increased diversity actually causes groups to "hunker down."
2009-03-31
23:50:08
And since when was it the job of CMC's admissions department to "overcome" racism? It's not Yale or Jail. I'm sure some of the kids who are admitted to CMC with much lower than average SATs or GPAs would do much better -- as in graduate higher in their class -- if they went to a UC or even -- gasp! -- a community college.
2009-04-01
00:11:16
One other thing, I don't know about Mr. Sprague personally, but I find it inherently snobbish for him to say that rich students might "befriend" poor students and then learn of their own advantages -- as if there weren't some other way than throwing money at social engineering on our campus.
2009-04-01
00:12:00
Finally, what the heck is a "moral dessert"? Is that a pastry that lectures you before you eat it?
2009-04-01
15:22:48
sounds yummy charles. eat up.
2009-04-01
15:29:55
Charles- if you were catching an editing mistake of mine, thank you, it has been corrected in the article.
If you were unfamiliar with the term "moral desert" here is a link that should help you http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/desert/
2009-04-01
17:01:54
This article is insanity. Absolute insanity. I feel like a mosquito at a nudist colony: I know what to do but I just don't know where to begin!
2009-04-01
18:30:40
dude bros you all just need to chill out - how about the charlies settle this over a sixer of natty light and some gamecube?
2009-04-01
19:43:02
Great suggestion simularic_bro. I'm gonna be at the national debate championships this weekend, but I'm willing to accept that challenge any time in the future (beer + gamecube FTW).
2009-04-02
02:20:28
Charles Johnson has written an interesting response on his blog: http://www.claremontconservative.com/2009/04/favor-policies-that-promote-individual.html
2009-04-02
02:25:36
will it work?
2009-04-04
18:11:09
A response to a response.
http://www.claremontconservative.com/2009/04/on-rich-kids-legacies-and-lesser.html
2009-04-12
23:46:13
A question to the proponents of affirmative action: did you enjoy the international festival yesterday? Because those are the kinds of people that this policy discriminates against. While you might say that black people and latino people add to the cultural diversity of a school, what about the far richer panoply of cultural diversity that Asians have to offer?
2009-04-14
21:54:56
"If you believe that there are “underrepresented minorities” does it not also follow that there are “overrepresented minorities” like Jews and Asians? If so, would you favor trading lesser qualified blacks and Latinos for higher qualified Asians? I wouldn’t. I would favor race-blind admissions. "
I love that you left out Jews in the second sentence and made it a ethnic minority contest for who's the better ethnic minority for college.
2009-04-15
01:10:37
I love how you twisted my argument rather than debated it on its merits. Could that be because it's true?