<p>Agh. I was going to stop. I really was. Well, let’s go down the list.</p>
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<p>lol no one ever gets my name right :P</p>
<p>I incorrectly assumed a consensus, it seems. Sorry about that. </p>
<p>Race-based anti-URM policies have no basis besides race. They are literally racist, instead of what anti-AA dudes think is racism. Affirmative action is not morally equivalent to racial discrimination for a variety of reasons.</p>
<p>Affirmative action is a policy of inclusion, not exclusion. It’s a policy based on an educationally sound and well-founded interest in achieving class diversity — not just so that all races share equality of opportunity, but because being around people different from you make you a better person — rather than on an educationally unsound and unfounded distaste for undesirables. It’s a policy completely in harmony with the institutional goals of all of America’s top universities — to change the world through education — rather than discordant and unreasonable.</p>
<p>The racists of yon might argue similar things, but the difference is that they would be wrong. </p>
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<p>lol</p>
<p>It’s as if you’re reading an entirely different thread. No one owes anyone anything. It’s a matter of what we as a people — or universities, more specifically — want to give. Colleges and universities are interested in educating a diverse group of students and use that diversity as a tool to do it. Affirmative action’s the only way around right now to do this effectively.</p>
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<p>There’s no reason to. Seems internment camps didn’t really affect the Japanese applicant pool like hundreds of years of slavery, little-to-no education, and cultural isolation did. If it did, you could be sure tjat we would do the same for the Japanese. </p>
<p>We do the same for Hispanics, though no one ever focuses on them. It’s not because we feel guilt toward them. We just value diversity. For really good reasons.</p>
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<p>Again, this is hilarious.</p>
<p>You are suggesting that anyone thinks the actually significant differences between racial groups are biological. The fact is that differences come from two things, one part wonderful and the other part arbitrary:</p>
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<li><p>People from different races have diverse ethnic backgrounds. Every person you meet comes packed with a heritage. Despite complaints about American culture overshadowing others, the world’s — and our nation’s — heterogeneity is still pretty profound. And this is one of our greatest strengths. Asians have a variety of asian cultures distinct in many dramatic and interesting ways from other types of ethnic groups. Blacks do, too, an effect amplified by their diaspora throughout the Americas. Even Whites bring something to the table — something every American learns about every year he takes history. We all have a different heritage, something highlighted by our different musical styles, different ideas about life and God, different values. And being exposed to these is part of what makes a Great American university.</p></li>
<li><p>People from different races are looked at differently. This is the arbitrary one, but unfortunately very important for a person’s background. Blacks, Asians, and Whites still have a tendency to be treated and thought of in a certain way by those around them in every culture. Stereotypes abound that make Blacks appear to non-Blacks (for example, white police officers) as more likely to commit a crime, or Asians to seem to others hypercompetitive and math-geeky. It’s even been shown through scientific research that these stereotypes are hardwired into all of us, even those of the offended groups, because of the socialization that occurs around us. Living in a world where people think of you differently because of your skin color is another way race makes a difference.</p></li>
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<p>Columbia, despite getting federal funding, is still pretty independent. Sure, it must not break the law, but other than that, it’s free to for any reason at all bring in 20 trombone players each year or 200. But really, no one is arguing that people can do whatever they want or that this is a reason for allowing affirmative action.</p>
<p>The basic idea is that if you object so vigorously to a university’s interest in diversity, you might be more comfortable attending to some other school. But that’s a red herring. Unrelated to the argument.</p>
<p>vivian, later. maybe.</p>