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Bush Should Attack Alumni Preference Programs |
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by George E. Curry
(No verified email address) |
04 Feb 2003
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"Racial Preferences"?
George Bush ignores the fact that it is still mostly about white privilege. |
If George W. Bush really wants to challenge a “quota” program, he should stop assaulting the University of Michigan and take on the most pervasive preference program in the country—those that give special consideration to the sons and daughters of alumni.
Bush knows all about these programs because that’s how he got into Yale University. His widely reported SAT scores of 566 on the verbal section and 640 on the math portion were not high enough to get him into an Ivy League school. But because his father had attended Yale, that opened the door for him.
As a contributor notes in an anthology I edited titled, “The Affirmative Action Debate,” far more Whites have entered the gates of the 10 most elite American universities through alumni preference—or legacy programs—than the combined numbers of all African-Americans and Latinos entering through affirmative action.
Yet, neither Bush nor his Right-wing ideologues attack this class-based preference program.
Why should George W. Bush get extra points for being a blue-blood?
That very question is being asked at Bush’s alma mater. A headline in the “Yale Herald” two years ago declared: “True blue-bloods shouldn’t get royal treatment.”
It observed, “The reality today is striking: Those whose parents were affiliated with Yale College or one of the graduate schools were admitted to the class of 2004 at a rate of 29.8 percent. Over the past 10 years, the admittance rate for those families who were Yale-affiliated varied to well above 30 percent.
“In contrast, Yale’s combined acceptance rate for all students last year was a mere 16.2 percent—and this was unusually high. Are students with family connections really twice as qualified to attend Yale?”
The same can be asked of other universities.
As “The Wall Street Journal” reported recently, “Harvard accepts 40 percent of legacy applicants, compared with an 11 percent overall acceptance rate. Princeton took 35 percent of alumni children who applied last year and 11 percent of overall applicants. The University of Pennsylvania accepts 41 percent of legacy applicants, compared to 21 percent overall. At Notre Dame, about 23 percent of all students are children of graduates.”
Are the legacy students smarter? Not judging by their SAT scores. Although Harvard officials say legacy students score just two points below the overall average on the SAT, one year that gap was 35 points.
Alumni preference programs penalize students for not coming from wealthy or highly educated families. Where’s the fairness in giving extra points to students who’ve had extra advantages all of their lives?
In the case of alumni preference programs, it’s not about fairness. It’s about money. University officials openly acknowledge that they are eager to enroll legacy students because that tends to help them with alumni donations.
Legacy students are not the only ones who go unchallenged while anti-affirmative action groups gear up for two University of Michigan cases that will be argued before the Supreme Court on April 1.
Even the undergraduate affirmative action program at Michigan, which is being challenged along with the law school program that does not use a point system, awards extra points for in the admission process based on other factors.
For example, just as people of color can be awarded 20 points because of their historical exclusion, socio-economically disadvantaged students, regardless of their race, can also receive 20 points (no student can get points for each). Athletes being recruited on scholarship also receive 20 points. Applicants living in the Upper Peninsula are given 16 points.
And it doesn’t stop there. Extra points are awarded to men who go into nursing and women who major in engineering.
Of all of these programs that award extra points, the only one being challenged in court is the one crafted to increase the presence of underrepresented people of color on campus.
As successful as the University of Michigan has been in diversifying its campus, it’s not likely to be confused with an United Negro College Fund institution. Of 38,000 students enrolled, 8.1 percent are African-Americans.
Bush got into Yale easier than Blacks get into Michigan.
Speaking of his private school days, Bush wrote in his autobiography, “A Charge to Keep,” with Karen Hughes: “I was a solid student but not a top student. I did well in the courses I liked, such as history, math, and Spanish, and not so well in others, such as English. When I met with the dean to discuss different college options, I told him I would like to go to Yale. Many in my family had gone there… The dean tactfully suggested that I might think of other universities as well…”
Bush didn’t have to do that. He could ride on his family name.
George E. Curry is editor-in-chief of the NNPA News Service and BlackPressUSA.com.
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See also:
http://blackpressusa.com/Op-Ed/speaker.asp?SID=16&NewsID=2746
http://blackpressusa.com/
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