Affirmative Action: Revisited

[SheHateMe]

Hmmm, so I figured I would post this here since another poster made a thread a while back about this particular case and how this poor white girl was so wronged by this flagship University.

Enter the case of Abigail Fisher, a 20 something year old who is suing the University of Texas for denying her admission...something she says was based on the fact that she was white.

On the outside looking in, this case seemed cut and dry to a lot of posters here due to the fact that UT does consider race and socio-economic and race factors as part of their admissions process. However, UT is also one of the most selective schools in the country with an automatic admission program for all students who graduate in the top 10% of the class. Anyone not falling into that percentage (and Abigail did NOT) is basically a bottom of the barrel pick hoping that the metal claw of admissions picks them out of the bucket.

So far, you are probably thinking "Okay, they take race into account...so she's right..."

But no. Check this out:

In 2008, the year Fisher sent in her application, competition to get into the crown jewel of the Texas university system was stiff. Students entering through the university’s Top 10 program — a mechanism that granted automatic admission to any teen who graduated in the upper 10 percent of his or her high school class — claimed 92 percent of the in-state spots.

Fisher said in news reports that she hoped for the day universities selected students “solely based on their merit and if they work hard for it.” But Fisher failed to graduate in the top 10 percent of her class, meaning she had to compete for the limited number of spaces up for grabs.

She and other applicants who did not make the cut were evaluated based on two scores. One allotted points for grades and test scores. The other, called a personal achievement index, awarded points for two required essays, leadership, activities, service and “special circumstances.” Those included socioeconomic status of the student or the student’s school, coming from a home with a single parent or one where English wasn’t spoken. And race.

Those two scores, combined, determine admission.

Even among those students, Fisher did not particularly stand out. Court records show her grade point average (3.59) and SAT scores (1180 out of 1600) were good but not great for the highly selective flagship university. The school’s rejection rate that year for the remaining 841 openings was higher than the turn-down rate for students trying to get into Harvard.

As a result, university officials claim in court filings that even if Fisher received points for her race and every other personal achievement factor, the letter she received in the mail still would have said no.

It’s true that the university, for whatever reason, offered provisional admission to some students with lower test scores and grades than Fisher. Five of those students were black or Latino. Forty-two were white.

Neither Fisher nor Blum mentioned those 42 applicants in interviews. Nor did they acknowledge the 168 black and Latino students with grades as good as or better than Fisher’s who were also denied entry into the university that year. Also left unsaid is the fact that Fisher turned down a standard UT offer under which she could have gone to the university her sophomore year if she earned a 3.2 GPA at another Texas university school in her freshman year.


In an interview last month, Blum agreed Fisher’s credentials and circumstances make it difficult to argue — as he and his supporters have so ardently in public — that but for her race Fisher would have been a Longhorn.

“There are some Anglo students who had lower grades than Abby who were admitted also,” Blum told ProPublica. “Litigation like this is not a black and white paradigm.”

Basically, she's full of shit and is wasting the court's time.

Asked by a news reporter what harm she had suffered, she cited only her inability to tap into UT’s alumni network and possibly missing out on a better first job. If she wins, Fisher seeks only the return of her application fee and housing deposit — a grand total of $100 in damages.

How cute.



The rest of the article is mighty interesting. But...I'm WHITE!

 

[Geosurface]

Whatever may be the case with this particular incident... I don't think any honest person can deny that affirmative action is deeply wrong. It is government-endorsed, sometimes mandated racial discrimination. Pure and simple.

 

[SheHateMe]

Whatever may be the case with this particular incident... I don't think any honest person can deny that affirmative action is deeply wrong. It is government-endorsed, sometimes mandated racial discrimination. Pure and simple.

And what term would you use for the 42 white students who were admitted to the University even though they were less qualified than Abigail? Re-Affirmative Action?



Its only bad when Blacks and Latino's benefit from an opportunity like that. :whiste:


It makes you wonder, how many of these Affirmative Action cases played out similar to this case in reality.

 

[Geosurface]

And what term would you use for the 42 white students who were admitted to the University even though they were less qualified than Abigail?

I'd call that "stupid admissions practices"

 

[fskimospy]

Whatever may be the case with this particular incident... I don't think any honest person can deny that affirmative action is deeply wrong. It is government-endorsed, sometimes mandated racial discrimination. Pure and simple.

Of course honest people can argue that affirmative action is right, don't be silly. That being said, with your history in other race related threads I don't think I want to have that argument with you.

 

[SheHateMe]

I'd call that "stupid admissions practices"

Her race card trick backfired. Can't claim the darkies kept you out of school when it was actually whitey.

 

[shortylickens]

Even if some of the allegations were true, she wasnt denied cuz she was white. They ran out of room at an institution with limited seats. The reasons behind it are not important in this case. They werent being racist against whites.

 

[classy]

Her race card trick backfired. Can't claim the darkies kept you out of school when it was actually whitey.

Why do I have the feeling its gonna be one of those days around here

 

[Paratus]

Whatever may be the case with this particular incident... I don't think any honest person can deny that affirmative action is deeply wrong. It is government-endorsed, sometimes mandated racial discrimination. Pure and simple.

Now if you had said, "It sure sucks that previous generations were so systematically racist that's its up to my generation to fix things, but its the right thing to do."

I would have agreed with you.

 

[highland145]

Now if you had said, "It sure sucks that previous generations were so systematically racist that's its up to my generation to fix things, but its the right thing to do."

At what point does that end and admissions are based on merit?




Admissions should be based on the ability to earn a living wage with the degree. But that's a different subject.

 

[nehalem256]

Her race card trick backfired. Can't claim the darkies kept you out of school when it was actually whitey.

Actually she can claim that because of policies of the university.

Now if you had said, "It sure sucks that previous generations were so systematically racist that's its up to my generation to fix things, but its the right thing to do."

Your statement only makes any sense assuming you think it is right to continue to categorize people based on race.

There are poor people of all races. But I guess its just tough luck for the poor white people huh?

 

[waggy]

Race should NEVER be considered when it comes to school or a job.

 

[Exterous]

Race should NEVER be considered when it comes to school or a job.

I would agree. SES is a far larger factor in school grades than race. I think it would be better to scrub the applications of race, names, and sex. If your school chooses to participate in a program that offers disadvantaged students a slanted admissions process then do it from a pool based on SES but keep the same anonymity for race, names and sex.

 

[xanis]

Race should NEVER be considered when it comes to school or a job.

Except when your race gives you an advantage over someone else. Then it's okay. I doubt any of the people that got hired/accepted to school because of affirmative action are complaining about it.

 

[nehalem256]

I would agree. SES is a far larger factor in school grades than race. I think it would be better to scrub the applications of race, names, and sex. If your school chooses to participate in a program that offers disadvantaged students a slanted admissions process then do it from a pool based on SES but keep the same anonymity for race, names and sex.

This. Its funny that liberals always use the argument about a "group of perpetually poor people" being bad for society. As if there are not groups of perpetually poor white people. But I guess poor white people aren't bad for society. :hmm:

 

[nehalem256]

Except when your race gives you an advantage over someone else. Then it's okay. I doubt any of the people that got hired/accepted to school because of affirmative action are complaining about it.

The white people sitting at the front of the bus weren't complaining either. Doesn't mean segregated bus seating was right.

 

[waggy]

The white people sitting at the front of the bus weren't complaining either. Doesn't mean segregated bus seating was right.

we still need segregated bus seating. last time i got on the guy next to me stunk of shit and beer. really we should force smelly people to the back. ugh.

 

[xanis]

The white people sitting at the front of the bus weren't complaining either. Doesn't mean segregated bus seating was right.

Oh I agree with you... just being a little sarcastic.

 

[nehalem256]

we still need segregated bus seating. last time i got on the guy next to me stunk of shit and beer. really we should force smelly people to the back. ugh.

I found it funny that when I used to ride the city bus black people were still sitting in the back of the bus, but this time by choice. Not that I can blame them, those were the best seats. :awe:

 

[Nintendesert]

Being someone that benefits from institutional racism I for one love affirmative action and think we need more of it!

 

[Svnla]

Funny how Asian students did not and still do not need AA/set aside programs or any excuses yet they are still kicking butts in SAT/ACT tests and college admission. Why is that?

 

[SheHateMe]

Actually she can claim that because of policies of the university.

Yes, she can...but now she looks pretty stupid for suing them in the first place. I also forgot to add in that some activist group is just using her case to further their agenda. Her legal team already knew they were fucked when UT released that admissions data...but they just kept on trucking..


The fact that 42 white folks less qualified than Ms. White Privilege got into UT makes me feel all tingly inside.

 

[SheHateMe]

we still need segregated bus seating. last time i got on the guy next to me stunk of shit and beer. really we should force smelly people to the back. ugh.

Last time I got on a bus, I fell asleep and woke up to two men fingering my nose.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Funny how Asian students did not and still do not need AA/set aside programs or any excuses yet they are still kicking butts in SAT/ACT tests and college admission. Why is that?

Actually I know an Asian student who did get accepted to University of Texas at the same time as the girl who is suing. This guy graduated in the top 15% (13.35% to be exact) of his high school class.

 

[Incorruptible]

It doesnt look like that she was a victim of AA but rather her grades were not good enough. Still this AA has to be ended though.