Working Around Proposal 2?
In the last class session we talked about the affects of minority enrollment in Grand Valley after proposal 2 passed in 2006, and I thought that this article would be a perfect follow up to that discussion. The article “Minority Enrollment Falls at U-M” by Marisa Schultz reported in The Detroit News, shows that Grand Valley isn’t the only school facing a minority enrollment deficit because of proposal two. Even though schools cannot use race to determine enrollment in a university, many schools have tried to target students from underprivileged schools and low-income neighborhoods when recruiting:
U-M leaders believe they were able to safeguard against dramatic drops in minority enrollment by learning from the experiences of elite public universities in California and Washington, whose minority enrollment plummeted after affirmative action was outlawed in those states. In response, U-M initiated aggressive targeted outreach efforts to persuade qualified minority students to enroll and employed new tools to identify potential students from underrepresented high schools and neighborhoods.
Though it does me no good to “cry over spilled milk” I don’t think that Proposal 2 should have been passed. Certainly I don’t think that race should be considered when determining who is accepted into an institution or who is not, but I do think that it should be considered in financial aid. If we examine the life of an average slave and calculated how much money he/or she should have earned for his/her free labor then the math would look something like this:
12 hour work day (at least) x $7.55 (today’s approximated minimum wage) x 7 days a week x 52 weeks in a year x about 70 years (average life span) = $2,308,488
And that is just for one person. If every slave had been paid for their work maybe they could have afforded to send their future generations to college. I think that the least the government or universities can do is offer scholarships and grants for students of color based off of this one fact alone. The government promised reparations to freed slaves, and I think this is the perfect way to uphold that promise.
But back to the issue at hand: I appreciate U of M and other colleges’ attempts to diversify their campus by reaching out to those underrepresented students. I believe that a diverse campus really does contribute to a wonderful educational experience. Race will probably still continue to be a controversial issue, especially with an African American man running for president, but I do believe that our nation will advance past color lines and we will truly live in a country where all men are created equal…or at least theoretically.
Minority admissions fall at U-M
Enrollment in state not greatly impacted by ballot initiative; law, medicine hit hardest.
Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News
- My Blog Comments « do vegetarians eat animal crackers? pingbacked on 1 year ago
- Recap of Comments | All the World's a Schoolhouse pingbacked on 1 year ago
I really appreciate your blog and I am happy that universities are stepping up to the plate to do what is right. I am really sensitive to this issue because I came to college on a minority scholarship. Now because of proposal 2, I do have the money that I was given before and I need to take out excessive student loans in order to finish my education. I think people get the wrong idea about affirmative action and do not see pass selfish reason in their opinions. Someone mentioned in a class of mine that her friends from an upper middle class neighborhood does not get any assistance in their college education and that it does not seem fair to give money for college based on race. However, if you look at the numbers of high school students that continues to a higher education verses the high school students from my neighborhood that continue on to college, the ratios are unbelievable. The numbers are so low in underprivileged areas because there is no money or scholarships. In the high school that I attended the community/alumni scholarships available were only four 200-500 dollar scholarships. Now if you attend a four year university you can see how inadequate this amount of money is. Compare this to an upper middle class high school, the amount of money and the number of scholarships surpasses those of an underprivileged community. The money is there for upper middle class students. And I am not trying to sound harsh but if one or two students cannot go to college from an upper middle class neighborhood, this is a taste of what the majority of students from minority schools go through year after year. This is why affirmative action was implemented to give those a chance who wants to go to college.
Posted 1 year, 2 months agoI appreciate your comments in this post about race in admissions to institutions of higher education. I agree that Prop 2 is bad law and should not have been passed, but as you say it is what it is and we have to deal with it.
It seems to me quite a leap in logic, however, to move from consideration of race with respect to financial aid to using reparations for slavery as the metric for calculating such aid. While I agree that some system of “handicapping”(in the sense that a golf handicap allows all players to compete equally) the entrance or financial aid guidelines is necessary to the equality of opportunity in higher education, I think bringing reparations for slavery into the argument ill-serves the overall case. While there is no gainsaying that slavery was the most reprehensible institution in our nation’s history, I think that admissions to colleges and financial aid should reflect the current hardships that face minority students, not historical hardships. Certainly there is ample evidence to show both the need for diversity on college campuses, and for adequate financial aid for those who need it.
Let me reiterate that I am NOT condemning reparations to the descendants of former slaves, only that I think in this context it serves to over-extend the argument and weakening an otherwise strong case for helping those who need and deserve it.
Posted 1 year, 2 months agoHello Blaine,
I know we talked about this a little in class, and I understand your case, but I do believe that I was misunderstood. Maybe I need to reword my logic, but using reparations for financial aid was only a theoretical proposition to show a broader idea. I guess the main message that I was trying to get across was that scholarships such as the Bert Price Diversity Scholarship, given to students of color by Grand Valley, should not be taken away. If anything, they should be kept if you ONLY considered how much the country “owed” slaves for their free labor. Certainly it would be impossible to try to calculate such a specific amount and I wonder how the nation could really afford to pay each Black person 2 million dollars! I honestly do not believe that reparations will ever be given, and I’m not one who believes that the government owes me anything or is responsible for whatever plight I experience as an African American. This post was actually stemmed from our discussion about proposal 2 on Thursday when a classmate said that no one made a big deal about her, an Asian student, receiving a minority scholarship, but everyone was in opposition to a Black student receiving a minority scholarship. My whole argument was more of a “why not?” in response to that as opposed to demanding that Black students receive money for school as some sort of reparation.
Posted 1 year, 2 months agoKierra,
I really enjoy your blog, and I think this is an extremely important topic. It drives me crazy that so many whites think that affirmative action and similar laws are forms of “reverse racism”. I am completely for affirmative action and I think that prop 2 is not supporting minority students whatsoever. It is so much bigger than college admission and financial aid. The root of the issue is the white power structure, which most white people do not realize that they are a part of. I didn’t realize it until I came to Grand Valley and took some classes that opened my eyes. These laws are about evening the playing field for students who live in a society where they are not a part of that power structure, and I feel that any backpedaling (A.K.A. the passing of prop 2) is dangerous. Students of color who cannot attend a University because of these kinds of laws are having the courses of their lives change, because of this “colorblind” way of looking at college admissions. I’m very glad to hear that Universities are finding ways around Prop 2.
How do you feel about this kind of social education in schools? It is something that I would like to incorporate in my classroom.
Posted 1 year, 1 month ago–
Kelly
Oh boy. I think that this is probably one of the most controversial issues I’ve ever discussed, and it seems to be one that surely won’t disappear anytime soon. There are many points from both sides of the issue that I very much agree with. Honestly, I believe that when we look at “race” as the deciding factor for scholarships and admissions WITHOUT looking at financial need, that’s when many people get up in arms about why affirmative action is “unfair.” I have an Asian friend–actually, half-Asian friend–who went to school on a full-ride scholarship. He is more financially stable than many non-minority people who went to my high school, I’m sure. His GPA and ACT scores were not top notch. And while I don’t intend to bash him, or anyone else who has received such financial benefits because of their race, I must say I’m not a huge fan of the ability to obtain extra money because of a different skin tone or facial features. Now, I know that some students who happen to be minorities also happen to have a great need for financial aid as well. If finances are the biggest factor in aid rather than race, wouldn’t minorities who are struggling financially still obtain financial help? And wouldn’t minorities who have sailed on by in economic terms have to face the same loans that most non-minority students have to face? And wouldn’t non-minority students who struggle for finances have the potential for more help? There are non-minorities in inner city schools and middle class schools struggling financially, too. I guess I feel like it doesn’t make sense for a non-minority to fail to make his or her way into college because he or she can’t take the chance of possessing thousands and thousands of dollars in debt, while a minority who could pay for college goes for free. I love diversity, and I love the idea of communities working together to build each other up. But I do see how affirmative action actually broke people down because of so much emphasis put on “race” and “reverse discrimination” and all those topics we can’t hide from. Are looking at one’s school background and financial need enough, or are there reasons why race alone should be judged?
Posted 1 year, 1 month agoYes, this is a very sensitive subject that I have to agree is not just going to go away in this country. I think that coming from a minority background I have a certain feel for this topic specifically. I feel that there really is never going to be a right or wrong answer to this topic, and there will always be a grey area. I guess I have just grown up my entire life feeling like every other “white” child in my class. When we were in class discussing this issue, I brought up that it is uncanny to be the different ways society treats say Asian Americans to African Americans. Not all people, but some. Prop 2 in my eyes was a good thing because it did recognize the fact that a student of a minority descent can get help financially. And who is to say that that student doesn’t deserve it as much as the next. Meanwhile, there are plenty of other scholarships throughout universities applying to all different varieties of stipulations and requirements that many minority students can’t apply for.
I see what Shaynon and Blaine are getting at when talking about how there are many students not of a minority that need to financial support too. But there are many scholarships for those who come from low-income families, inner city schools, etc. It isn’t like they make these diversity scholarships for minorities and those are the only scholarships offered. I think that yes students should be viewed for their academic and financial needs while reviewing these scholarships, but I also feel that some minorities don’t get into college solely because of their race. I carried a good gpa throughout high school and my family is middle class. Could they afford to send me to college? Yes, with student loans like every other middle class family. But does that make me LESS deserving of a scholarship just because I am Korean? I don’t think so. We all work hard for the grades we get, and to attend the colleges we are accepted into.
Posted 1 year ago