The Shrine

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... tml">Daddy knows best...</a>

Hmm... facinating...</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Powerful.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>And this article made my jaw drop.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Shit! Time to bring the lawyers.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Seriously. The SGA has contacted the ACLU and is "seriously considering" bringing a lawsuit against the BOV. (I'll let you consider the irony of the fact that the SGA has to go outside of the university system to actually make a difference.)</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>The first two, you can't do much about, but the third is against Freedom of Speech.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>The first one plenty can be done about, even without the procedure. It's the affirmative action one that probably will remain. It's likely to agree with the upcoming Supreme Court decision, it agrees with recent Virginia decrees, and it's the current trend at public universitites.

However, a lawsuit might not even be necessary. <i>Many</i> people are pissed off. Students and faculty. I have <i>never</i> seen people react and organize so quickly. At the meeting, the faculty representative to the BOV - who does not have voting power - said the US News & World Report has already interviewed him. The one thing we can do is generate a lot of negative publicity for Virginia Tech, and universitites <i>hate</i> negative publicity.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt arial; text-align: left; '>Ok, I can at least understand the REASONING behind the last two, but why would they remove sexual orientation from the antidiscrimination policy?</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Rumor is a back room deal of sorts - take it out, they get something else.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>I don't even agree with affirmative action: it's racist.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Read my explanation. Not doing anything perpetuates the status quo, which is not equal.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>It's the very definition of racism to go "Sorry, Johnny, but we let this other kid in because he's black." That's why I don't agree with black colleges, either. A college for blacks only is racist, just like a restaurant for whites only is racist, or a bus for whites only.

At the very least, we shouldn't stand for this 50/50 bullshit. Besides, what about Mexicans? What about Indians? What about Asians? When are we going to realize that it's not a two-race country?</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Who said 50%? In Virginia, they represent about 20%, but at Tech, they're about 5%. Affirmative action does not only apply to blacks as well. You're making strawmen.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt ; text-align: left; '>Sine there are no Blacks Only colleges, it's just that most white parents don't want to send their kids to college populated by niggers. Hell Southern's football team had a white QB for a while, who'd thunk it possible?</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "Fine Hand"; text-align: left; '>Howard University, for example, is not exclusive to blacks. It's a VERY good university and guess what? Whites can apply there under minority status.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Oh, and it should be noted that they left legacies intact.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>No, I'm not. And yes, affirmative action only applies to blacks. Where does it say otherwise?</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Doesn't that defeat the purpose?</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>I guess there's no affirmative action in those colleges?</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "Fine Hand"; text-align: left; '>What purpose?</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Well, a guy on the ACLU mailing list at my school who is American Indian sure seems to think otherwise. But if you want to continue to tell me about Virginia Tech policy, by all means, go ahead.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Where does it say "Okay, X percentage will be White, X percentage will be Black, and X percentage will be American Indian"? You can't do that because there are an potentially infinite number of races. If you lumped it up to "minorities", you run into the same problem with racism: "Well, we can't let this Native American in because we have enough blacks." or "We can't let this white guy in because we have enough minorities."</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>If whites can apply as minorities, doesn't that defeat the purpose of affirmative action?</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "Fine Hand"; text-align: left; '>I'm not familiar with the policies of Howard University but I do know that non-blacks can apply for minority status ~in~ Howard University.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>This causes problems later on. The purpose of laws is not to put "band-aids" on problems. They are to be long-term. Otherwise, they will stay on the books forever, until somebody rallies up support to get it removed. This costs a lot of money. The demographics of this country could change so that black are the majority, or Asians are the majority, or Hindus are the majority, so no law should apply just to a certain group. This is racist.

I believe in anti-discrimination against race, but I do not believe in anti-discrimination against blacks or any other racial group specifically.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>I don't know what the official policies are, but I could probably find them with a little work. They are not, as I understand it, as strict as "We must have percentages like this." I hesitate to post someone else's words without their permission, but I think it's okay:<blockquote>I know that many people are against affirmative action, and I do believe
that in some ways, it has been taken too far. On the other hand, though, I
am thankful for the programs it offers. As an American Indian, I am in the
smallest minority here at school (there are only 46 others on campus). The
race-based initiatives that are a part of the affirmative action program
here are invaluable. They work to recruit other Indian students and help
them to get into college and show them that they have an opportunity to
receive a college education. Tech needs to work on their diversity problem,
whether it is racial diversity or intellectual diversity. Virginia has 8
recognized Indian tribes, and of the 46 Indian students here on campus, only
5 of them are from those tribes.

Affirmative Action needs to be re-evaluated, but let's not condemn it
totally!

Rhyannon Berkowitz

P.S. In high school, I had a 3.6 GPA and got a 1350 on my SATs</blockquote>I consider this guy a credible source. If you don't, explain to me why he's not. Some of my next paragraphs are lifted from my response in the above thread.

As far as affirmative action goes, there is institutional racism that is still prevalent in this country, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. My school is about 75% white - the stats are even worse if you only consider undergraduates. That's not representative of the state of Virginia. People like me - middle class whites - already have the privelege of being on the better side of this system.

Not having affirmative action maintains the far reaching system of privelege already in place. Not having affirmative action perpetuates the racism already inherent our social structure.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>That is poor logic - problems that we have right now might require solutions that could be unnecessary or even harmful when the problem is behind us.</div>