What's Wrong with Denouncing White Interlopers?
February 26, 2004
It’s a good thing that Al Sharpton is busy running for the Presidency or, right now, he might be on a bus with Roland Smith racing to burn down Roger Williams University...”It's on now: All blacks out!” But this time around, the Reverend Al is strangely quiet. Maybe it’s that old thing about people living in glass houses.
In early February, the Roger Williams University chapter of the College Republicans (RWUCR) advertised a $50 whites-only scholarship. June Speakman, their faculty adviser, explained it “...as a way for the college Republican groups to express their opposition and tell people they are against race-based scholarships and affirmative action.” Within a week, the $50 scholarship turned into a $250 scholarship. RWCCR president, Jason Mattera, said he has received donations and pledges in the $thousands for future whites-only scholarships.
Anybody hear the liberals yelping?
With Gallic valor, the Republicans issued the first whimper. RNC Chairperson, Ed Gillespie, immediately severed all ties to the RWUCR and fired a missive condemning the scholarship as, ”contrary to the principles of the party I proudly chair...I am at this time suspending the Roger Williams University College Republicans’ right to use the symbols . . . of the Republican Party”. In clear-thinking verse, the RWUCR think that, “Republicans definitely need to grow some testicles.” Why do the young always have to fight the wars?
Needless to say that the knee-jerk response to the ‘whites-only” scholarship has been pedantic. PC immersion has yielded the obvious...”the scholarship is discriminatory and totally uncalled for”...”A woman from Nebraska wrote a letter denouncing the scholarship”...”A woman from the Bronx, N.Y., wrote a letter commending it”...and “members of the Student Senate are trying to abolish RWUCR”. Maybe the PC police will bring their wrath to bear on more hypocritical practitioners of discrimination. Anybody ever hear of Howard University or the Seven Sisters (sadly, now only five)?
Washington D.C.’s own Howard University boasts that it, “does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, gender, marital status, religion, handicap, age, sexual preference, political affiliation or any other basis prohibited by Federal or District of Columbia law.” But in a clarification, its Mission Statement explains that, “Particular emphasis is placed upon providing educational opportunities for African-American men and women and for other historically disenfranchised groups.” The facts from Howard’s own Student Profile tell an even more interesting enrollment tale, “86% African American and less than 2% Caucasian”.
Considering that Howard receives almost $200 million a year in “Federal Appropriations”, it might be fair to ask if the university is really applying itself to correcting its historically based discrimination...or even desires to.
A visit to almost any university website is met with an obvious link to the institutions policy on “Diversity and Inclusiveness”. Cornell University even has a Committee on Special Educational Projects (COSEP) “with the primary goals of: 1) increasing the enrollment of African American students at Cornell; and 2) providing support services to facilitate both their adjustment to Cornell and their graduation”. Such an initiative to balance the Caucasian deficit at Howard University is glaringly absent.
And...now turning to some members of the super-elitist group formerly known as the Seven Sisters. You know, that whole Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe, Smith, Vassar and Wellesley College cabal.
Again we find institutions of higher learning that benefit in various forms from millions in public subsidization who openly and proudly practice discrimination.
Mount Holyoke bills itself as, “...a highly selective, nondenominational, residential, liberal arts college for women (emphasis added). Wellesley’s mission “is to provide an excellent liberal arts education for women (emphasis added) who will make a difference in the world.” I dare to wonder what Wellesley thinks of the “difference” Phyllis Schlafly has made in this world. Oh, don’t be so cruel...Wellesley does count the former First Lying Lady as its most dubiously distinguished alumna.
Unlike race or gender preference institutions, the student members of the RWUCR have illustrated the absurdity of systemic discrimination in the academic world. They have the constructive end-goal of eliminating that discrimination. “Mattera said the whites only scholarship was meant to make fun of, and make a point about, scholarships offered only to minorities...It's a parody....” And what do the administrators of single-sex institutions have to say about eliminating 50% of the population from their classrooms? Talk about pots and kettles!
RWUCR president, Jason Mattera, makes a rational case: “RWUCR is opposed to ...two classes of people with two different standards. University(ies) should either compile race-based scholarships for all students, or race-based scholarships should be eliminated, and scholarships should be on a meritorious basis, which is the ideal.” Mattera told the Providence Journal that “if you want to treat someone according to character and how well they achieve academically, then skin color shouldn't really be an option”.
Mattera’s believes that, “Gillespie’s impetuous response proves that the GOP doesn’t mind to alienate their base.” Is Mattera wrong when he concludes that, “Sadly, the current leadership of the Republican Party is made up of a bunch of cowards who are not willing to fight for principle, a party that worships the alter (altar) of political expediency”? All conservatives look in the mirror and take a deep breath.
Personally, I agree with Mattera’s assessment that he, “...did a pretty damn good job encouraging dialogue.” Unfortunately, those who will attack him the most venomously care little about dialogue. But they do care vociferously for their cushy thrones in the status quo. And that status quo is an institutionalization of victimized discrimination and the entitlements it creates. Mattera’s belief...that, “As conservatives, we should be confident that we will win the battle in the arena of ideas.” may be his Achilles heal.
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