As a black male student at Boston University, I am incensed with the recent negative scrutiny under which minorities have been placed here. Many describe BU as “diverse.” When they say that, what do they actually mean? When people say the school is diverse the first thought that pops into my head is racial diversity; there are roughly 3 percent African-American and 6.5 percent Hispanic-American undergraduates at BU, to name a few.

Many times I realize there is an extreme lack of minorities in my classes. Throughout my three years here at BU, I have found myself the only black in most of my classes — I’m talking classes where there have been as many 200 students in the class. To this day, I often find myself asking: Why am I always the only black person in this class? Will the other kids stare at me again today when we talk about civil rights?

Many white students have no clue as to what we, as minorities, have to go through at this predominately white school. Many questions about how we gained admission are rampant on this campus. Some speculate that it was affirmative action that did the trick, not seeing that we actually got in on our own merit.

What many people in America fail to see is that we are not all judged and treated equally whether it be based on sex, class, race or sexual preference. We need to discard this na’ve illusion that racism, elitism and any other “-isms” don’t exist anymore — they do. In weeks past, we saw the Teach For America fliers which served as a wake-up call stating that everyone does not have equal access to education.

Did you stop to question why that is so? And if you did, did you just say that it’s because they are poorer than their white counterparts? Finally, did you fathom a guess as to why they’re poorer?

The fact that the BU College Republicans want to make a scholarship for those at least 25 percent Caucasian had me on the verge of tears — tears of anger. I agree with the argument that if there was a Hispanic scholarship then it would be okay, but when there is a white one presented, it is wrong and racist. But one must realize there are many sub-groups of the white race that offer ethnicity-based scholarships: Jews, Italians, the Irish and others. I feel that the BUCR is not trying to promote racial awareness through its scholarship stunt.

It certainly avoids the attempt to be racially sensitive. I think they made a poor decision in trying to bring the white scholarship stunt to BU.

Instead, I think a better idea would be to hold open forums where people could talk about the issue of race in an appropriate setting. The proposed scholarship does not help in any way to advance racial tolerance and understanding — it only serves to undermine it.

So, yes, many scholarships based on race and ethnicity exist and many whites are at a disadvantage, but in no way does it make sense for the BUCR to fuel the fire by creating another exclusive scholarship. Two wrongs don’t make a right. We need work on not trying to build walls, but trying to tear them down to make race much less of a sore subject for society.

Many BU students come from homogenous areas whether they be all white, all black, all Latino, etc. Some know very little about racial diversity.

I feel we all need to be educated on the topic of race because no one truly holds all the answers on how to solve the issue. We are all still learning about class difference and racial differences among other things.

We could all educate ourselves by sharing positive ideas about race and its extremely important role in America. If we can’t come together as a community and talk about these issues, I foresee a gloomy future for race-relations at this school.

Instances such as the TFA flyer controversy, the affirmative action argument in The Daily Free Press a few weeks ago and the recent white scholarship gaffe could negatively influence the decisions of future applicants of all races and future BU partnerships and events.

Ryan Early is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences.