Waah waaaahhh. Get out of YOUR bubble, Todd.

“What is inherently wrong is giving lesser-quality students the nod simply for being different.”

So what about white students who get in with low grades and no motivation to work? Why is it that students of color are the ones with the low grades and don’t somehow belong here?

Stick to math.

Can you even back up the statement that UW gives “lesser quality” minorites admission just for the sake of affirmative action? Maybe you should actually do some research.

Great article. First 2 commenters are clearly minorities that benefit from the study groups, student orgs, and all the other “diverse” programs that the average white kid can’t get into. The fact that you can have organizations that are blah blah blah for the Black generation or whatever, but the same org with “white” in the title would be racist is ridiculous. Students should be accepted based on grades and their essays, not color of their skin.

Agreed with 10:35. I would like to see the grades of some of these people on Langdon who throw house parties on Sundays and Tuesdays.

“Instead my position is I simply don’t care whether diversity increases or not, and I honestly don’t see why it is getting so much attention.”

I can tell you that there is a need for more diversity on this campus. However, standards are not being lowered to make this a reality! Look at programs like PEOPLE. It is easy to spill trash like this when you don’t have the facts!

Before you write get your facts right.

1:37 = Idiot, white kids live on the MLC, take ICD classes, make up the MAJORITY of the staff at MCSC(their founder is half-white for god’s sakes!!!). Its illegal to bar people because of the color of their skin from Student Orgs. Read a damn handbook before you open your bigoted mouth.

1:37 makes a good point though, while we have Hmong heritage groups, etc around campus, a White Heritage group would be decried across campus.

I actually know the author personally, and he is not writing this as a bigot or to promote a sense of racial superiority but that the issue of race or ethnicity shouldn’t matter and the fact that it does deprive otherwise qualified applicants of the chance to come here.

My roommate is Hmong, got a 22 on the ACT, started with English 100, Math 95, and a handful of other liberal arts courses while my best friend in high school who had a 28 ACT and was otherwise well involved did not get accepted or even put on the waiting list.

While I’m glad to have met my roommate, I don’t think the reverse racism of accepting a student with inferior credentials is the way to achieve a quality university.

i bet neither of the first two are minorities, actually. and i bet 1:37 is todd jasperson.

The Badger Herald should be embarrassed by this.

To @ 1:37pm:

So, this school accepts bigots now? What you said sounded like something that would come out of the mouth of a KKK member. You should be ashamed of yourself and how ignorant you are.

I’m white and middle class, but I’m not complaining about diversity. I mean, black Americans didn’t have equal rights until the middle of the 20th century! In many cases, the ancestors of white Americans enslaved the ancestors of black Americans (or supported enslavement). In many cases, minorities have not had the same opportunities as white Americans. I’d rather see Madison accept more underprivledged students to give them the opportunity to succeed that they may not have had earlier in life and less rich kids who come here on Daddy’s money so they can blow off their education and spend Wednesday through Saturday at frat parties.

To @ 1:37pm:

So, this school accepts bigots now? What you said sounded like something that would come out of the mouth of a KKK member. You should be ashamed of yourself and how ignorant you are.

I’m white and middle class, but I’m not complaining about diversity. I mean, black Americans didn’t have equal rights until the middle of the 20th century! In many cases, the ancestors of white Americans enslaved the ancestors of black Americans (or supported enslavement). In many cases, minorities have not had the same opportunities as white Americans. I’d rather see Madison accept more underprivledged students to give them the opportunity to succeed that they may not have had earlier in life and less rich kids who come here on Daddy’s money so they can blow off their education and spend Wednesday through Saturday at frat parties.

Wrong, 5:41, MCSC has asked for culture groups, like an Irish or German group to be established, but no one from these cultures have stepped up to start one, too busy harassing people of color to focus on their own culture.

1:37 The last time I check there are groups that whites can be apart of such as the German Club or the French Club. White people aren’t being barred from anything or being held back in anyway.

It’s time for understanding.

Also for 5:41pm Who’s to stay that you didn’t earn your place here? What concern is it of yours anyway, you aren’t providing an education for anyone.

People need to get their facts straight before they talk trash. Come to some of events that BSU, MCSC and other groups are hosting and learn something.

“So, this school accepts bigots now?”

Only minority bigots are acceptable! Only minorities may have “exclusive” organizations to promote their “rights” to special treatment and privileges.

Celebrate Diversity …

except veterans, small-business owners, practicing Catholics, gun owners, talk-radio listeners, tea-party attendees, Texans, smokers, limited-government proponents, pro-lifers, taxpayers, NASCAR fans, Boy Scouts, oil-company employees, secure-border advocates, capitalists, global-warming agnostics, Cuban refugees, school-choicers …

“oo busy harassing people of color to focus on their own culture”

BS.

Maybe they are focused on getting an education and preparing for a life of taking care of themselves, instead of extorting special benefits by playing the victim?

PS. Do you suppose that the Irish or German clubs could bar non-whites?

Jasperson fails to recognize the privilege on which typical standards for education are based. Standards for quality are defined by and for wealthy, white males, because these are the people that have historically worked at institutions of higher education and have therefore had the power to create these standards. To suggest that members of oppressed groups must meet those racist standards to be worthy of admission is ignorant at best and white supremacist at worst.

The problem that diversity campaigns address is not the problem that people of color are absent from the education system. Diversity and affirmative action campaigns are directed to address the inherently racist, sexist, and classist structures of University systems in general, including UW Madison: structures that keep people of color out of the university unjustly. While the Diversity initiatives on campus are far from perfect, including more voices of people of color, for example, is absolutely necessary to breaking up the racist nature of all dialogue that occurs at the University level. I don’t mean explicitly derogatory racial remarks (although those are also prevalent on this campus). Instead, I am referring to the racism of neglect and invisibility, the racism formed from centuries of institutions recognizing as valid only thought and theory created by white people. Even though we now explicitly allow people of color to participate in many dialogues and be scholars on many levels, standards of scholarship are still defined by what has been historically valid, and thus are white supremacist and racist.

Consider the classical canon in Theatre, for example: Classic Greek drama, Italian Commedia dell’arte, Moliere’s comedies, Shakespeare, Stanislavsky, O’Neil, and Tennessee Williams. The modern canon has, in the past 20 years or so, allowed for the admittance of one man of color: August Wilson. This is not due to a dearth of material; hundreds of plays are turned out annually by a variety of genders, races, and socio-economic statuses in the U.S. alone. These changes occurred because it is only recently that people of color have been allowed into academic discourse to recognize these plays as valid scholarship at all.

Jasperson’s ability to look right through the racism in which he is participating is a white privilege (just as ability to not notice the imperative nature of diversity in dialogue is a white, male privilege: oppressed groups recognize diversity not as a technical necessity but as a mandate required by institutions. Dialogue arising from oppressed groups that only considers the viewpoints of those oppressed is completely disregarded; diversity is required for oppressed people to be heard). This privilege also allows him to notice that people of color are getting a privilege from race-aware admissions, at the same time that he can ignore the thousands of privileges we white people receive on a daily basis because of the color of our skin.

We must give up some of our power for justice. We do not deserve to rule the world; all people deserve to rule the world.

PS: Jasperson, I recommend that you check out Paul Kivel’s “Uprooting Racism.” It is a great introduction to why all this racism stuff exists and how it is perpetuated, and why we as white people need to actively fight against our own racism, unintentional but nevertheless incredibly harmful as it may be.

PPS: If anyone has any questions about institutional oppression, I would be glad to provide you with more information. You can reach me at jones3@wisc.edu.

Stefanie A. Jones