As the former president of the Boston University College Republicans, I find Clynton Namuo’s op-ed “Affirmative action bake sale icing on the cake” (pg. 9, Feb. 23) disturbing. The affirmative action bake sale was held to make a point – that discrimination based on race, regardless of the circumstances, is wrong.
While Namuo does a commendable job of outlining the socio-economic inequalities that currently exist between blacks and whites in the United States, he does a much less adequate job of defending affirmative action as it currently exists. Namuo admits that “affirmative action has been twisted to be something it is not.” He goes on to say that “schools and employers often give a minority candidate more weight simply because of their race.” While I see lots of name-calling and disparaging comments throughout the article, I find no defense of an affirmative action system that blatantly discriminates based on race.
The Boston University College Republicans never disputed that socio-economic inequalities exist in the United States. The event did not disparage programs meant to bridge that socio-economic gap that do not discriminate based on race. The bake sale was meant to highlight the injustice of race-based preferences and open a dialogue on affirmative action, as similar events have done at universities across the country, hopefully it’s served its purpose.
Worse than Namuo’s criticism of the event, though, is his call for the expulsion of BU College Republicans President Andrew Trznadel. You want to talk about setting dangerous precedents at BU? Expelling a student because of his political beliefs is a great way to start. Universities are meant to be a marketplace of ideas, a place for free expression. All of that is lost the minute certain ideas are censored because they are deemed “too offensive” (never mind the fact that 90 percent of the country believes that race-based preferences are wrong). To call for the expulsion of a student based upon the expression of his political beliefs is quite possibly one of the most ludicrous and sad things that I have ever seen written in The Daily Free Press. It sickens me that Namuo would want to set such a precedent, and I hope that the next time he calls for the expulsion of a fellow student he’ll give more thought to what he’s saying.
Kati Borden
CAS ’04
The author is the former president of Boston University College Republicans and the vice president of Massachusetts Alliance of College Republicans.
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