The Ongoing Need for Affirmative Action

The Ongoing Need for Affirmative Action

The article is written by the Beyond the Green staff. Authors defend Affirmative Action following the Supreme Court decision in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action to allow Michigan citizens to "bar the state using affirmative action in university admissions". The authors also point out the ways that anti-affirmative action rhetoric is prevalent at Middlebury. The authors point out how this type of rhetoric undermines the intellect/ qualifications of Middlebury students of color. Additionally, authors say that while class-based affirmative action is needed, it cannot be in the place of race-based affirmative action, because it denies intersectionality

Volume 112, Number 25

Beyond the Green

The Campus

05/08/2014

Maya Doig-Acuna
Alex Jackman
Murray Dry- PSCI Professor

"One writer of this piece, Maya Doig-Acuna, shared that after she was admitted to Middlebury, many of her friends complained, saying: 'You're so lucky-- being black makes it so much easier to get into college,' and 'affirmative action makes it harder for white people to get into school.'"

"Writer Alex Jackman contributes another experience: during a class discussion on affirmative action in the fall, Professor Dry presented an unfair dichotomy to his class: he asked, would you prefer to be a single black student in a classroom at a college that does not practice affirmative action and thereby not be questioned on your admission? Or be one of several minority students in a classroom at an affirmative action college where white peers were empowered to make assumptions about your intellectual aptitude and how you were accepted."