Sure I will get all kinds of crap for posting this, but why is there such an outrage? Isn't everyone allowed to put up a scholarship fund and place restrictions on it or does that only apply when it is for non-whites or when it is based on sexual orrientation?


New scholarship created for whites only
Monday, February 16, 2004 Posted: 8:16 AM EST (1316 GMT)

BRISTOL, Rhode Island (AP) -- A student group at Roger Williams University is offering a new scholarship for which only white students are eligible, a move they say is designed to protest affirmative action.

The application for the $250 award requires an essay on "why you are proud of your white heritage" and a recent picture to "confirm whiteness."

"Evidence of bleaching will disqualify applicants," says the application, issued by the university's College Republicans.

Jason Mattera, 20, who is president of the College Republicans, said the group is parodying minority scholarships.

"We think 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," he said. "Many people think that coming from a white background you're automatically privileged, you're automatically rich and your parents pay full tuition. That's just not the case."

The stunt has angered some at the university, but the administration is staying out of the fray. The school's provost said it is a student group's initiative and is not endorsed by Roger Williams.

Mattera, who is of Puerto Rican descent, is himself a recipient of a $5,000 scholarship open only to a minority group.

"No matter what my ethnicity is, I'm making a statement that scholarships should be given out based on merit and need," Mattera told the Providence Journal.

His group took out a full-page ad in last week's issue of the university's student newspaper to tout the scholarship, which was for $50 until two donors came forward to add $100 each during the weekend, Mattera said.

It's not the first brush with controversy for the group. The school temporarily froze the Republicans' money in the fall during a fight over a series of articles published in its monthly newsletter. One article alleged that a gay-rights group indoctrinates students into homosexual sex.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/02/15/whites.only.ap/

Yes, private organizations can come up with whatever stupid stipulations they want on who they give money to.
And people who think there's a such thing as "white heritage" need all the help they can get to make it into college. Obviously they won't be getting any scholarships for intelligence or good works.

__________________
"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside

Should Boston University's College Republicans be allowed to offer a Caucasian-only scholarship? * 31097 responses

Yes, it illustrates the problems with race-based scholarships.
73%

No, it trivializes programs established to correct real discrimination against specific groups.
27%
Not a scientific survey. Click to learn more. Results may not total 100% due to rounding.


This is the corresponding MSNBC poll to this topic.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15838853/

Wonder what the poll in here would show...????

I am not sure that I understand that. So because of the "whites only stipulation" the guys applying for the scholarship are dumber and require help to get into college? What does that say about the gay only, hispanic only, single minority mother only and so forth scholarships that are offered? Are they equally as stupid or is there another reason that makes it ok to have these? I know I would have been thrilled to receive a few extra $$$ in my college days to cover expenses...

BS answers. I think it should be allowed but that it is more a sign of stupidity than illustrating problems. I don't think it trivializes the programs so much as it does the actual legacy of racism.
White people have no significant disadvantages in the country and never did. Black scholarships exist to try and get more blacks into college... something desperately needed in the black community.
Both types of scholarships have the right to exist but the purpose is obviously difference in each case. One is a private organization attempting to get black kids, presumably poor, into college in order to remove the symptoms of past racism. The other is obviously, since it's not a white supremacist group, an attempt to pretend that white people are actually disavantaged by this. Lame.

__________________
"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside

I believe there is a large number of whites that are economically disadvataged as well. Try the coal mining communities up north and their economic misery... I believe you could find plenty of folks disadvantaged of any race. Economic depression is truly colorblind....

I agree that this however (since it is a private university), does not apply to this scholarship and the highth of the monetary compensation is hardly enough to cover a full semester of supplies needed.

I love the way the College Republicans get to the heart of the matter. When my children graduated from high school, I attended the scholarship awards night. There are more scholarships for minorities every year. My own children were ineligible to apply for more than half of the scholarships offered. The real shame is that of all the Latino kids who got scholarships, not one of them was financially needy and 4 out of 5 of them weren't even in the top 10%. Of the top 10 scholarship winners, 3 were white - the top 3 students in a class of more than 500. Can you imagine a kid who is #4 or 5 in a class of 500 not winning a scholarship because of their race?

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

the argument, which I agree with, is that crime is higher in the black community because blacks tend to be disproportionately poorer. So the issue of higher crime is an economic one, not a racial one. So why isn't that true now? The problem with fewer blacks in college, much like higher crime rates, isn't as much a racial issue as an economic one.

Now with all that said, I do agree that there are some cultural issues in the black community that go against school and studying "being cool" and if there is a way to address that then I am for it.

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All you need to know about the energy crisis:
ANWR Exploration Republicans: 91% Supported. Democrats: 86% Opposed.
Coal-to-liquid R's: 90% YES. D's: 78% NO.
Oil Shale Exploration R's: 90% YES. D's: 86% NO.
Outer Continental Shelf Exploration R's: 81% YES. D's: 83% NO.
Increased Refinery Capacity R's: 97% YES. D's: 96% NO

SUMMARY: 91% of House Republicans have historically voted to increase the production of America’s own oil and gas. 86% of House Democrats have historically voted against.

I like it. Think it makes a powerful point. I thought I heard that you had to be at least 25% white to receive the scholarship. The point they make is that we shouldn't be excluding people up based upon skin pigmentation.

Indeed there are economically disadvantaged whites. I'm not really a fan of race-based scholarships for that reason and others. But my point is that in their attack of the rase-based scholarships, the College Republicans glaze over the real reasons why there are scholarships for minorities.
Like Rebellion says, there are cultural problems within the black community that lead to a highly anti-academic attitude. There are also abyssmal schools in black neighborhoods. And don't forget the isolated culture, ebonics, gang issues... The idea is to get promising blacks out of the ghettos so that the ghettos can ultimately be a thing of the past.
Frankly I think they need a ghetto-scholarship since that is where black scholarships are supposed to be aimed. Ghetto poverty provides some disadvantages far beyond what the rural poor face. Though I think the rural poor should get help too.
Yes, help makes more sense based on economics and background than race. No argument there.
But this is an attempt to ridicule the very idea of how bad the ghetto poor have it and just how terrible an education crisis exists in poor black neighborhoods. Chances are their next move is to trivialize the differences in backgrounds and educational aid for the poor.

What I don't get is why we have to turn serious political issues into jokes like this. They become mostly emotional, drown out the opposing side, and create political strength through ridicule. The end result is harsher feelings between camps.
This kind of politics is not a good model for public discourse. It's the place of comedians and entertainers.

Perhaps I think politics these days is degressing into South Park. Political cartoons are becoming the whole of the campaign.

__________________
"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside