The Boston University College Republicans have set up a $250 “Caucasian Achievement and Recognition” scholarship, which requires applicants to be at least 25 percent Caucasian and to write two essays, one about their ancestry and the other about what it means to be Caucasian American today.
The goal of the BUCR is to “trigger a discussion on what we believe to be the morally wrong practice of basing decision in our schools and our jobs on racial preferences rather than merit. We are offering this scholarship, but we are not advocating this scholarship,” according to a note in the three-page application.
The BUCR is drawing criticism from many different groups and organizations. Many opponents have pinned the scholarship as racist or oppressive.
In a previous column (“Affirmative Action Must End,” Oct. 11, p. 3), I talked about how the practice of affirmative action is discriminatory and reactionary, and that we cannot consciously continue to employ these types of policies. I also said that if you were in favor of affirmative action policies, then your ideology should support policies that would benefit white males in minority positions.
The same applies for this issue. If you support race-based scholarships — scholarships that give special consideration to students of a certain skin color — then you should have no problem with BUCR’s scholarship.
But I am not one of those people. I have a big problem with what the BUCR is doing, and I also have a big problem with those who support any sort of scholarship solely for minorities.
Both sides are simply wrong.
The BUCR is upset that Caucasians are being discriminated against and feel that scholarships based on race are unfair, but then they put forward a scholarship, which requires at least one white grandparent.
I fully understand the BUCR’s problem with race-based scholarships. I agree that giving scholarships that discriminate on the basis of race are morally wrong. Creating another race-based scholarship, while sparking discussion on the problem, does not, however, present a solution.
Instead of simply identifying the problem, they should try to take an active approach in fixing it. If this issue is really that important to them, important enough to be on national news, they should have brought a lawsuit against a race-based scholarship on grounds of discrimination.
Moreover, establishing a Caucasian scholarship will not end the “morally wrong practice of basing decisions in our schools and our jobs on racial preference rather than merit.” In fact, race-based minority scholarships play no role in this process. A scholarship does not control who earns admission to a school, or who receives promotions in a job — those decisions are determined by the policies of that specific institution. If this is the BUCR’s goal, perhaps they should have petitioned BU to adjust their admission policies.
As for those who support scholarships solely for minorities, like those presented by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other minority organizations, they miss the mark as well. Don’t in one breath denounce the bigotry of the BUCR and then go silent on the race-based scholarships of minority organizations.
America needs to make a decision. Do we allow exclusivity and permit race-based discrimination, or do we prohibit everything that segregates and discriminates as a result of skin color?
It’s disheartening to realize how little progress we have made over the course of the past 50 years. The decision of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 ended segregation in public schools. It decided that “separate is inherently unequal.”
You would have believed that this would have been the foundation, the first step to creating a colorblind society. Why is race still a determining factor? Let us actively help those with financial hardships. Students without monetary means should be given special consideration in scholarships. But differences in skin color should be as unimportant as the differences in eye color or hair color.
Have my fellow BU students become so jaded that we have forgotten the message of one of our own alumnus? We cannot disregard Martin Luther King’s dream of racial equality.
We should actively strive to make BU a place where skin color does not advance or impede. A real, just goal would be eliminating all racial discrimination in scholarships and admission policies starting right here.
President Robert Brown’s consideration in extending aid to foreign students, similar to that which is currently given to U.S. students, is a positive start.
Once we erase the divisiveness of race we can focus on working together to achieve greater good.