Apparently the Bush administration and its supporters are in favor of helping minorities, as long as there is no proof that minorities are being targeted for this help. Am I trapped in George Orwell's 1984? Enough with the double speak. Which is it gonna be? I think we know the answer. Bush wants to seem like he's helping, not actually help.
Posted by Mike at March 29, 2003 08:41 PM | TrackBack
As the Supreme Court prepares itself to tackle affirmative action in university admissions this week, a new offensive is well under way against scholarships and summer programs intended to ease minority students into college life.The Center for Equal Opportunity and the American Civil Rights Institute, two groups that oppose affirmative action, have threatened to file federal complaints against about 30 universities, contending that their reliance on race to determine eligibility for certain awards and academic enrichment programs violates civil rights law. The groups are also backing the case against the University of Michigan's admissions policies before the Supreme Court.
In the weeks since the letters have gone out, at least five universities have agreed to open their programs to white students or possibly cancel them. They are the University of Virginia, Iowa State University, the University of Delaware, Princeton University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the first to be challenged by the two groups and the only one under review by the Department of Education.
Another university put on notice, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, unexpectedly eliminated its affirmative action policies this month under pressure from the state attorney general's office, but, after an outcry from students, faculty members and administrators, its board agreed to reconsider.