The President of Michigan University is taking a stand, one day after the state's voters approved Proposal 2, a Constitutional amendment banning affirmative action programs.
Opponents worried that if the constitutional amendment passed in Michigan, the battle over affirmative action programs would spread to other states and roll back progress made toward equality for minorities and women. [...]But supporters said affirmative action was unfairly keeping some people from getting jobs and university admissions because minorities were being given an edge. The ballot drive was led by Jennifer Gratz, a white student from suburban Detroit who says she was turned away from the University of Michigan in 1995. She says if she had been black, American Indian or Hispanic, she would have been admitted.
President Mary Sue Coleman vows to devote her efforts to finding a way around the ban. In a statement that has a promising second career as a college drinking game, the word "diversity" appears 21 times;
I will not stand by while the very heart and soul of this great university is threatened.We are Michigan and we are diversity.
I am joined on these steps by the executive officers and deans of our university. We are united on this. You have my word as president that we will fight for what we believe in, and that is holding open the doors of this university to all people.
Today, I have directed our General Counsel to consider every legal option available to us.
In the short term, we will seek confirmation from the courts to complete this year’s admissions cycle under our current guidelines. We believe we have the right, indeed the obligation, to complete this process using our existing policies. It would be unfair and wrong for us to review students’ applications using two sets of criteria, and we will ask the courts to affirm that we may finish this process using the policies we currently have in place.
This is our first step, but only our first step.
[...]
Of course the University of Michigan will comply with the laws of the state.
At the same time, I guarantee my complete and unyielding commitment to increasing diversity at our institution.
Let me say that again: I am fully and completely committed to building diversity at Michigan, and I will do whatever it takes.
I will need your help. As individuals and as a University, we absolutely must continue to think creatively about how to elevate Michigan’s role as a national model for diversity in higher education.
The words "merit", "achievement", and "academic standards" do not make an appearance.
This is a classic example of the attitude of academic elites, not only in the U.S., but here in Canada as well, that their "higher morality" places them above the laws of mere mortals.
Coleman's weasel words make it clear that she has no intention of upholding Michigan law, either now or in the future. She should be booted forthwith, and let the lawsuits fall where they may.
The people of Michigan should be applauded for taking a stand against racism and sexism.
The University Prez should try to make her school a better place for everyone, instead of being so narrow minded that she wants the law to force some supposedly 'ideal' student ratio.
The people have spoken....not the courts. Makes you wonder who the intolerant bigots really are.
The American Criminal Liberties Union will probably represent these "enlightened" masses.
Ptooie!
A funny thing I've seen too often in those demanding diversity: They'll look at a school with a 58% female population and say there aren't enough females, "We need to help the women" they say.
Let's just be straight up, schools should be there to teach, period. If government wants to change the numbers attending the schools, the government should do the job, with one proviso; if X is done to help a group, then X must also be done to help any other group which fits the same standard.
The government of Ontario wants more female engineers? OK. Then the government of Ontario must also work to increase the number of male teachers. The reasoning for the two is identical.
forget teachers....how about nursing....talk about a sexist profession...my wife is a RN....not one male on her floor...maybe a few in the whole hospital...out of over a 1000....where's the equity nazis on that one?????
And where are the equity nazi's on the issue of violent crime? Via "Gay and Right":
"Statistics Canada today has its analysis of homicides in Canada in 2005.
Nowhere in it's short article does it say that 73% of homicide victims were male - 480 male victims and 178 female victims. Could you imagine if the numbers were reversed - it would be a major headline. And, the percentage of male victims is the highest it's been in over 10 years.
In the 25-29 age range, males are 5.1x more likely to be a victim of homicide than females. In fact, in every age range, males are more at risk.
Usually, Stats Canada delights in highlighting the plight of women. In this case, they are quiet. Shame on them."
gayandright.blogspot.com/2006/11/stats-canadas-bias-against-men.html
This is not surprising. Ann Arbor is a bastion of wonderful liberal ideas. I have lived in Michigan for almost 4 years now and have gained some perspective on the place.Although U of M elicits a lot of respect for some of its academic programs and its football team, the mere mention of Ann Arbor is usually received with rolling eyes here.
SDA:
You have to understand that they do not want a school which is 1/2 caucasian and 1/2 Asian. They want a mix of colors, like a Crayola box.
But since brains, interests, talents, and behavior have nothing to do with color, you do have to wonder why they elevate it as such a high ideal.
Being a Michigander since about the time the last glacier retreated, I understand a small bit of the politics and the academics of this state. Believe me, the residents of the Great State of Michigan and the alumni of U of M and MSU will get the attention of Ms. Mary Sue Coleman, and those who concur with her thoughts.
One thing the Universities are beginning to take note of (in a State with significant budgetary problems, high unemployment, and a high rate of job loss) is anything that effects their bottom line. Their devout attention is immediately gained at any mention of a decline in State funding or alumni giving.
Gov. Granholm has been handed some restrictions in Tuesday's voting that will definitely effect what funds she can raid to play the shell game of now-you-see-it,now-you-don't dollars (refer to Mi Prop 1). The game could begin to get a bit more dicey for some of the State's institutions of higher learning.
Ms. Coleman works for the citizens of Michigan; the citizens of Michigan have spoken. I'm pretty sure someone will remind her of that rather soon.
I'm guessing that Ms. Coleman's defiant stand is a dog that won't hunt.
Here's what President Mary Sue Coleman says about changing the admission standards part way through the year:
By George, I think she's got it!
This is another example of the soft racism of low expectations.
Mary Sue Coleman only assumes that there would be less diversity if there were no quotas. How come she has so little faith in the abilities of differing people that she believes that they would not be equally represented without lowering the standards?
It seems to me that she is the racist. If you assume that the only way a minority can compete is to give them special help, you infer they're less able than the rest of us. That's both racist and condescending.
"equity" programs are a farce.
WOW ! Imagine getting to vote on something so holy to the utopians like Mary Sue!
As somone who was affected by affirmative action way back when I applied to the Ministry of Natural Resources for employment fresh out of school, and also worked a few summer terms for the "crown" and presently privately contracted with them, I've seen the effects of this policy.
I would appreciate the opportunity to actually have a say on the existence of affirmative action.
However I find it difficult to imagine Ontario, or even Canada, ever being so "free" in my lifetime.
The university of intellectial egghead morons whine about the fact that the citizens of michigan have spoken and say NO MORE AFFERMATIVE ACTION and i,ll bet quite afew minority voted approoved of it as well STICK IT UP YOUR EAR JESSIE JACKASSON and NAACP
"By George, I think she's got it!"
No, by George, I don't think she's got it.
She now has to find a way to contend with the law. The electorate and the Michigan Supreme Court will decide what is fair; not Ms Coleman.
Let us review:
This dispute has be going on for a long time, mainly concerning admissions to the U of M Law School.
U of M is funded by the taxpayers of Michigan.
Due to the way the diversity program was being administed by the U of M, especially by the Law School, U of M ended up discriminating against Michigan taxpayers, or the children of Michigan taxpayers.
Did I mention, U of M is funded by the taxpayers of Michigan.
Ms Coleman has decided to fight the desires of the taxpayers of Michigan. She has been doing this for some time. Nothing seemed to get her attention regarding this matter.
So the taxpayers of Michigan decided to make it a referendum for the voters (aka taxpayers) to decide. The proposal was passed; by the taxpayers of Michigan.
I'm am fairly certain that Ms Coleman will now use a great deal of the taxpayers money to take the question of the constitutionality of this vote all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court. This will happen because she believes that her liberal thinking is more astute than the conservative thinking (regarding this matter) of the Michigan electorate.
I predict, in the end, that Ms. Coleman will either be looking for other employment, or retiring early on a generous stipend from the taxpayers of Michigan.
Just another example of liberal women in high places being blind to any opinion other than their own. Watch out for Pelosi doing the same thing. The good thing is that after 2 years of extreme liberal values, the american voter will have the opportunity to kill liberalism for good.
Martin Luther King - August 1963
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
Mary Sue Colman - November 2006
"I have a dream that students seeking admission to university will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the contents of their mind but by the color of their skin."
If there is diversity when it comes to admissions, why not diversity when it comes to degrees? One degree if you came based on merit, another if you came based on diversity criteria. We could colour-code the degrees, and have a rainbow of them! Wouldn't that be the ultimate expression of a commitment to diversity?
I though the Heart and Soul of any University was it's education program.
Silly Me!
Yoop:
I'm not sure you're aware of it, but that "by George" thing was a joke. I was suggesting that Colman should take her own advice.
She is reluctant to use two different admission critieria depending on the phase of the school year, but not two different criteria depending on skin colour.
Course it's not funny if I have to explain it.
To rabbit:
Sorry... pulled the trigger a little quick on that one.
Guess I'm a little touchy when one of our *employees* stands on the steps of her *empire*, the day after an election, and essentially tells us "p*ss on the voters, I know better than they what is needed".
I think the reaction from the electorate she is attempting to disinfranchise is a little more than what she was expecting. I already have calls into the Board-of-Regents members, that I voted for on Tuesday, inquiring as to who hires-and-fires university presidents, and also who elevated Ms Coleman from U of M President to QUEEN of The Great State of Michigan.
The shame of it all is that Queen Mary Sue will use the taxpayers money to sue the taxpayers who dumped Affirmative Action (also known as using Discrimination to end Discrimination, or an Exercise in Lunacy). She ought to have to put up her own money, or money that will be donated by folks who think AA is just peachy.
Richard B:
One degree if you came based on merit, another if you came based on diversity criteria.
That is almost what is happening now. Many black graduates are presumed to have benefitted from affirmative action, no matter if they did or not. Thus their degrees are not given as much respect.
White males, on the other hand, are presumed to have done it the hard way. It's the law of unintended consequences.
The most effective way to promote real diversity at educational institutions is to teach students how to think, not what to think.
Coleman, however, seems certain enough of the truth of her own vision that I doubt she seriously entertains such an idea. No wonder she wants to approach diversity based on criteria that has no correlation with ability to think.
The most effective way to promote real diversity at educational institutions is to teach students how to think, not what to think.
Coleman, however, seems certain enough of the truth of her own vision that I doubt she seriously entertains such an idea. No wonder she wants to approach diversity based on criteria that has no correlation with ability to think.
The most effective way to promote real diversity at educational institutions is to teach students how to think, not what to think.
Coleman, however, seems certain enough of the truth of her own vision that I doubt she seriously entertains such an idea. No wonder she wants to approach diversity based on criteria that has no correlation with ability to think.
Merit is the first casualty of Political Correctness. (to paraphrase..)
If you want more diversity, decrease the standards and increase the enrollment.
Society can and does execute its own mandates; and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough; there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling, against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them; to fetter the development and, if possible, prevent the formation of any individuality not in harmony with its ways, and compel all characters to fashion themselves upon the model of its own. There is a limit to the legitimate interference of collective opinion with individual independence; and to find that limit, and maintain it against encroachment, is as indispensable to a good condition of human affairs as protection against political despotism.
J.S. Mill
Yeah, what you said.
What did you say, by the way? If AC wrote like that, nobody would have heard of him and we would never see his smiling face on the CBC.
I thought Thomas Sowell covered this topic well in his book "Black Rednecks and White Liberals". He describes a High School in Washington (the name escapes me at the moment) with all black students, which focused not on roll models, not on diversity, not on self esteem, but on one thing and one thing alone -- excellence. The achievements of its alumni read like an honour roll across the spectrum of social endeavour.
DrD: Dr. Sowell cited Dunbarton High School in DC as a paragon of excellence in his "Black Rednecks and White Liberals" - its excellence lost rather quickly in the rush to integrate all schools in the District. I am NOT intimating that integration is bad, only that the baby was thrown out with the bath water in this case.
AlsoDrD
DrD: Dr. Sowell cited Dunbarton High School in DC as a paragon of excellence in his "Black Rednecks and White Liberals" - its excellence lost rather quickly in the rush to integrate all schools in the District. I am NOT intimating that integration is bad, only that the baby was thrown out with the bath water in this case.
AlsoDrD
Anybody here like football?
Go Michigan! Go Wolverines! Go Mike Hart!
I just wanted to say that I have been watching Mike play football since h.s. and he has earned every one of his remarkable achievements and I know he has never been given any special treatment because of race. He is hard working and talented and smart and polite and good looking too. And keep your eyes open for his younger brothers, who are showing the same talent and good character.
As your neighbor to the North (Detroit is North of Windsor, Ont), I would like to thank all of you Canadians for understanding what was at stake in Michigan in the vote for Proposal 2. It wasn't just a referendum on a silly policy. It really was a vote on real civil rights, that are for everyone. This Proposal was absolutely shunned by EVERYONE of any public notice. It was absolutely forbidden by the elitist powers for anyone to say anything good about Proposal 2. There was even a bogus poll by the Detroit News saying that the proposal only had support of 39% of the voters. This truly was a grassroot and democratic outpouring. People really really really hate affirmative action.
Belief it or not, in the long term, this vote will very much help the Democratic party. The Democrats have been the party of Afirmative Action and the party continually lost support because of it. Now, if they are smart, they will let affirmative action die, which will allow people to actually believe that they are the party of the common person and not the elite crowd that Mary Sue Coleman runs with.
Tom Redd
As your neighbor to the North (Detroit is North of Windsor, Ont), I would like to thank all of you Canadians for understanding what was at stake in Michigan in the vote for Proposal 2. It wasn't just a referendum on a silly policy. It really was a vote on real civil rights, that are for everyone. This Proposal was absolutely shunned by EVERYONE of any public notice. It was absolutely forbidden by the elitist powers for anyone to say anything good about Proposal 2. There was even a bogus poll by the Detroit News saying that the proposal only had support of 39% of the voters. This truly was a grassroot and democratic outpouring. People really really really hate affirmative action.
Belief it or not, in the long term, this vote will very much help the Democratic party. The Democrats have been the party of Afirmative Action and the party continually lost support because of it. Now, if they are smart, they will let affirmative action die, which will allow people to actually believe that they are the party of the common person and not the elite crowd that Mary Sue Coleman runs with.
Tom Redd
Just wont it be funny whena conservative black bring a suit against him and the university and make a perfect example of this elitist idiot