Daily Bruin news coverage of the Bruin Republican’s
anti-affirmative action bake sale implied that we Bruin Democrats
were less than incensed over the views it represented.
That is hardly the case. Affirmative action is an issue we will
not be silent on. We agree with Daniel Chang (Feb. 19) when he
said, “oversimplification of the issue does a great
disservice to the goal of diversity.” The Bruin
Republicans’ bake sale did exactly that. Their actions were
ignorant, offensive and an inaccurate portrayal of the real reasons
behind this very necessary measure.
Affirmative action is about equality. It is about equal access
to the opportunity of higher education. College admissions boards
base their decisions on SAT scores, Advanced Placement courses and
grade point averages (bolstered by AP courses).
Those who do not have access to certain services are not given
an equal opportunity to compete for admission into the top schools
in the nation. If people do not have the money to attend a private
school or pay upwards of a thousand dollars for SAT tutoring, they
are already at a serious disadvantage. If people have to work after
school and therefore cannot devote their spare time to
extracurricular activities, another factor in college admissions,
they might as well not even bother to apply. The merits that all of
us want to be judged on do not boil down to ability so much as
social standing.
The fact is, the majority of lower-income families, especially
in Southern California, are racial and ethnic minorities,
specifically African Americans and Latinos. Of course this is not
to say all minority groups have these exact experiences, and it is
not to say white students don’t ever face the same types of
disadvantages. However, the fact remains that our nation’s
universities are severely segregated.
Although the numbers show a slight increase in minority
enrollment in the UC system since affirmative action in admissions
was abolished, these numbers are misleading. They have not
increased in proportion to the ever-growing numbers of minorities
in California. It would be foolish to ignore this fact or to sit
back and hope race-neutral policies will solve the crisis
eventually.
The lack of racial diversity on college campuses, especially in
graduate and professional schools, is not only detrimental to
students that are denied admission. It is detrimental to students
granted admission. A desegregated learning environment is
absolutely necessary to foster the kind of intelligent free flow of
ideas our universities claim to strive for.
After the recent comments of Regent Ward Connerly, expressing
his belief in the merits of “separate but equal,” one
might wonder at the real reason behind his anti-affirmative action
stance and his push for the destructive Racial Privacy
Initiative.
The same lack of respect for diversity was at work in the Bruin
Republicans’ bake sale. The race-neutral admissions policies
the Bruin Republicans so cleverly advocate serve no purpose but to
further segregate our campuses. By charging less money for African
Americans and Latinos, the Bruin Republicans perpetuated the common
misconception that affirmative action sets a low standard for
minority applicants. By charging less money for women they implied
that women are a minority at universities, when in fact women
constitute a majority of many universities.
Universities today, UCLA especially, are not lacking in
qualified minority applicants. Every year UCLA turns away thousands
of students with clearly demonstrated potential to succeed because
someone has to be turned away. And the reasons for rejecting any
particular applicant are more subjective than anyone would like to
admit.
Affirmative action simply allows for race to be one of the many
factors in the admissions decision. With a declining economy and
greater cuts to educational spending, affirmative action is more
necessary than ever. It is necessary to ensure that America’s
future leaders will come to represent the diversity that is its
population. Events like the Bruin Republicans’ bake sale
oppose equal opportunity, just like Trent Lott did in 1962 when he
opposed the integration of the first black student into the
University of Mississippi.