http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/02/15/whites.only.ap/

BRISTOL, Rhode Island (AP) -- A student group at Roger Williams University is offering a new scholarship for which only white students are eligible, a move they say is designed to protest affirmative action.

The application for the $250 award requires an essay on "why you are proud of your white heritage" and a recent picture to "confirm whiteness."

"Evidence of bleaching will disqualify applicants," says the application, issued by the university's College Republicans.

Jason Mattera, 20, who is president of the College Republicans, said the group is parodying minority scholarships.

"We think that if you want to treat someone according to character and how well they achieve academically, then skin color shouldn't really be an option," he said. "Many people think that coming from a white background you're automatically privileged, you're automatically rich and your parents pay full tuition. That's just not the case."

The stunt has angered some at the university, but the administration is staying out of the fray. The school's provost said it is a student group's initiative and is not endorsed by Roger Williams.

Yes, more scholarships for only Caucasians!!!!

11/28/2006 1:56:00 PM

At $250 it's obviously only a symbolic thing, but I applaud them for the gesture against affirmative action.

11/28/2006 5:20:31 PM

uh, there are lots of real scholarships out there for only a few hundred dollars

11/28/2006 5:21:58 PM

actually if it was a gesture against affirmative action it would be a white male scholarship since affirmative action benefits females as well.

Mostly, in its current fashion, its a statement against privately funded black scholarships.

11/28/2006 5:22:37 PM

While this merits discussion, it seriously could have gone in the Bosten (lol) thread.

I have no problem with privately funded racist scholarships (for blacks, whites, or anything in between), my problem is with those that get public funds.

If I were these people, I would have specific examples of where I took pieces of the applications and changed "black" or "African American" to "white" or "caucasion" or "WASP" or whatever. I wouldn't be asking for a picture unless we had proof another scholarship did the same. That way you can actually sound like you're protesting a specific set of application standards rather than just being assholes.

11/28/2006 5:29:09 PM

hahaha I think white heritage is the funniest shit ever. I dont think they realized why blacks find unity in their heritage. Im going to start an Irish/French Canadian scholarship and blow their minds.



and all of the females in this group better wise up.

11/28/2006 9:08:15 PM

This is why black people don't vote Republican, and Republicans are perceived as being racist.

11/28/2006 9:13:37 PM

moron

11/28/2006 9:15:20 PM

whats their take on macas?

we don't fall into the underrepresented minority group...can we get a shot at these scholarships?

11/28/2006 9:32:28 PM

Quote :

"This is why black people don't vote Republican, and Republicans are perceived as being racist."

11/28/2006 9:42:36 PM

^well-played

11/28/2006 9:50:27 PM

more like inaccurate

11/28/2006 9:55:09 PM

I'm kind of interested to know how an applicant would answer this question: "why you are proud of your white heritage"

11/28/2006 10:03:03 PM

the same way anyone would answer ""why you are proud of your [race] heritage"

11/28/2006 10:09:03 PM

because they're a racists?

11/28/2006 11:51:57 PM

OMG Republicans are so racist for wanting scholarship awards and admission practices to be a race-blind process!

11/28/2006 11:59:07 PM

it's only racism when white people are the ones being exclusive

11/29/2006 12:25:40 AM

This kind of thing would work better out in an area like Southern California where whites are actually a minority.

But California already got rid of affirmative action in its university system. The result? The percentage of black enrollees at UCLA dropped from around 10% to less than 2% in just a few years

11/29/2006 12:32:47 AM

Quote :

"OMG Republicans are so racist for wanting scholarship awards and admission practices to be a race-blind process!"

There's no such thing as race blind.

American society is currently inherently white-biased (and middle class male biased too), so any process that doesn't account for this is also going to be white biased. That's what affirmative action type programs are designed to correct.

11/29/2006 2:22:37 AM

anything that isn't racist is racist....

moron

11/29/2006 2:38:39 AM

Not anything, but that's one way of putting it.

11/29/2006 2:45:44 AM

Quote :

"There's no such thing as race blind."

An admissions process that doesn't consider race on the applications is.

You may then say "Well but black people, on average, do poorly in school." Well guess what, the admissions process is biased against people who do poorly in school. At its best, there is indirect racism, but you should examine and fix the root cause of their performance in school and not treat the symptom by making college easier to get into.

BTW, has anyone ever done research on the graduation rates of those admitted to college based on their race? I'd like to know if those people sieze the opportunity given to them and do well or do they take it for granted and flunk out. Georgia public universities have a major problem right now with people coming and flunking out because they don't have to pay for it due to the lottery. They have overcrowded campuses and too many students until the first exams and then a ton of kids leave. I wonder if kids granted admission that were under the standards have a similar problem.

11/29/2006 7:23:28 AM

I do know plenty of kids from my high school that had the grades to get into good programs at state, who made it here for one semester and partied too hard and failed out by the end of the first semester, and some at the end of the first year. Most of these were children upper-middle class families. Also there was a black kid I knew, i don't know if he came here on affirmative action or not, so I wont make that call, but he was constnantly going to the library and forming study groups. I do know his family wasn't well off, so perhaps he could ahve been seizing the opportunity, but then again since I don't know if he was on AA then IDK for sure.

11/29/2006 8:39:35 AM

Yeah, its too difficult to tell and it would be stupid to assume. I just wondered if any researcher had looked into it to see if AA in colleges actually even helps the intended population.

11/29/2006 8:44:21 AM

I've only glanced at this article for about 30 seconds, but it seems to echo what you have said so far

http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?id=1635

11/29/2006 8:53:07 AM

I didn't read it yet, but I can tell you this, I fucking LOVE Thomas Sowell.

From a user above:

Quote :

"But California already got rid of affirmative action in its university system. The result? The percentage of black enrollees at UCLA dropped from around 10% to less than 2% in just a few years"

From the article:

Quote :

"When racial preferences were ended in California, there was much hysteria in the media, with dire predictions that blacks would be kept out of higher education. Just recently, with much less publicity, the fact has come out that there are now more black students in the University of California system than there were when racial preferences and quotas were in effect. The same is true in the University of Texas system."

He explains it. They are less at UCLA but MORE in other universities.

[Edited on November 29, 2006 at 9:02 AM. Reason : .]

11/29/2006 9:00:19 AM

I guess most folks (from the big news outlets to politicians) will stay mum about this type of knowledge for fear of the backlash and the negative publicity.

11/29/2006 9:14:41 AM

Quote :

"You may then say "Well but black people, on average, do poorly in school." Well guess what, the admissions process is biased against people who do poorly in school. At its best, there is indirect racism, but you should examine and fix the root cause of their performance in school and not treat the symptom by making college easier to get into. "

but a lot of people view affirmative action as a cure for the root cause. They feel that the reason that [black, latino, whatever race] do poor in school is because their parents are uneducated. So by getting more [black, latino, whatever race] people to have a college education, it will make smarter young [black, latino, whatever race] people.

11/29/2006 9:37:55 AM

The races are out of balance! Let's choose a person based on an arbitrary social grouping instead of individual merit to harmonize the ratios!

11/29/2006 9:51:31 AM

there are white scholorships to black colleges.

so if you want money for being a white dude there ya go.

[Edited on November 29, 2006 at 10:09 AM. Reason : !]

11/29/2006 10:01:01 AM

^^^I can see that argument, but you can't teach them to run before you teach them to walk. I know that sounds condescending, but what I mean is:

You have to make them good students at the primary and secondary level in order to make them good students at the post-secondary level. What they're trying to do, rather, is to skip the first step and lower the standards for post-secondary schools. Instead, you end up with flunkouts who are really no better educated than their parents (well, maybe a bit so, but not college educated)

11/29/2006 10:46:10 AM

^Thats a solid point. Also there are those who are good students at those levels and slighlty above average level in high school- meaning good enough to get accepted into a public state college but not good enough to get scholarships based entirely on their academic standing. If their families are uneducated, which we've established as an assumption many times so far, and thus their family does not have the income to pay for them to go to school, they are eligible for financial aid. Granted financial aid is not entirely going to cover the education, so perhaps more public scholarships for financially disadvantaged students should be made available. This would almost double as a race scholarship given teh demographics, but would not be exclusive.

[Edited on November 29, 2006 at 11:16 AM. Reason : engrish]

11/29/2006 11:15:45 AM

^Excellent idea and one I have no problem with.

11/29/2006 11:37:48 AM

Quote :

"the fact has come out that there are now more black students in the University of California system than there were when racial preferences and quotas were in effect. The same is true in the University of Texas system."

Is that because the quotas ended though, or is it just the natural trend of black enrollment?

11/29/2006 11:50:54 AM

Well, in either case it points out that quotas weren't necessary. Unless you want to say that the enrollment increased, but not as much as it otherwise would have, which COULD be the case, but probably isn't likely.

11/29/2006 11:59:09 AM

Affirmative action is bullshit.

It's a concession given to minorities to avoid actually changing the instutitions that promote disparate outcomes.

11/29/2006 1:45:40 PM

You dont protest something by participating in it. Its not logical. Its like saying I am going to show children why they shouldnt use drugs by becoming a junkie.

Quote :

""Evidence of bleaching will disqualify applicants," "

whoever thought of this clause is a comedic genius whether they intended to or not

[Edited on November 29, 2006 at 2:06 PM. Reason : quote]

11/29/2006 2:02:52 PM

Buddha, if you're referring to this scholarship, then I can respond to that.

Sure, you shouldn't participate in it if you disagree with it, but in this case they are pointing our the hypocrisy involved. If the race selected had been different, this wouldn't have made the news at all. That's why they're participating in it. It is a protest.

11/29/2006 2:23:31 PM

but the fact remains that someone will benefit off of the thing they are protesting. They could have amde it a $1 scholarship.

11/29/2006 2:31:38 PM

Well compared to college costs, they pretty much did.

__

and they're probably hoping it gets shut down and they can sue. that's what I'd be hoping for there.

[Edited on November 29, 2006 at 2:36 PM. Reason : .]

11/29/2006 2:35:40 PM

$250 isnt exactly a lot, plus its probably the minimum amount that they could offer that people would actually take the time to submit an application. if it was $1 it would be taken as a joke, and not a statement

11/29/2006 2:39:27 PM

Maybe someone will start a college like St. Augustine's or Johnson C. Smith and make it all black...oh wait. Maybe someone will start a college that's all white and call it Racist U.

11/29/2006 2:48:49 PM

^or call it BYU

11/29/2006 4:04:40 PM

WHAT IS WITH YOU PEOPLE LIVING IN YOUR OWN WORLD. It's a fucking statement to others. 250 couldn't get you a blow job in that town.

11/30/2006 12:13:21 AM

Quote :

"WHAT IS WITH YOU PEOPLE buddha1747 LIVING IN YOUR OWN WORLD. It's a fucking statement to others. 250 couldn't get you a blow job in that town."

11/30/2006 8:51:17 AM

Quote :

"Maybe someone will start a college like St. Augustine's or Johnson C. Smith and make it all black...oh wait. Maybe someone will start a college that's all white and call it Racist U."

These colleges were founded when other universities were all white

11/30/2006 2:30:59 PM

As far as getting blow jobs goes, $250 could be books for one semester. There are "legitimate" scholarships that are that size...I don't see why we're all sitting around, pretending $250 ain't shit.

11/30/2006 3:03:25 PM

I think what the argument was about is that this is a protest scholarship (which can be construed to be racist if you are so inclined) but not necessarily a racist scholarship. The amount of it was used to prove that it wasn't meant to be a scholarship actually to further the white race.

I do see what you mean though, a lot of scholarships are low numbers like $250.

11/30/2006 3:43:23 PM

Quote :

"American society is currently inherently white-biased (and middle class male biased too), so any process that doesn't account for this is also going to be white biased. That's what affirmative action type programs are designed to correct."

lol ok....


i don't see how this is true really....


i haven't gotten anything for being a white middle class male, nor have I seen anyone degraded or mistreated for not being a white middle class male....

it's about like claiming the SAT is biased toward anything but proper school book english which everyone has a chance to learn. unless english isn't spoken at home perhaps?

Quote :

"These colleges were founded when other universities were all white"

correct

[Edited on December 2, 2006 at 7:34 PM. Reason : s]

12/2/2006 7:33:29 PM

Quote :

"it's about like claiming the SAT is biased toward anything but proper school book english which everyone has a chance to learn."

the claims of bias in the SAT are based more on cultural references than vocabulary and grammar. at least the arguments that make any sense are.

12/2/2006 7:38:52 PM