On April 1, 2003, the Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments on the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policy. In the meantime, the issue has been revitalized in the public’s mind, including that of the student body of Fairfield.
With Fairfield’s Martin Luther King Jr. convocation just this past Wednesday, some students are thinking about the issue of affirmative action in a different light.
Amanda Johnson, ’05, said, “I’ve never been a fan of affirmative action, but ignoring the issue won’t make it better.” She explained that Convocation Speaker Dr. Manning Marable pointed out that preference is given to athletes upon entering college, as well as those with alumni connections. If these issues are given greater weight, why then can’t race?
Josh St. Onge, ’05, said, “True diversity is diversity of ideas, even Martin Luther King said to judge not on skin, but on character; affirmative action flies in the face of that.”
Both the undergraduate University of Michigan and its law school are being sued by two Caucasian women who claim that the university unfairly denied them admission due to applications received from equal or less qualified black and Hispanic candidates.
Fairfield has no affirmative action policy, and evaluates each student individually, free from any point system which Michigan’s law school employs. Judy Dobai, director of admissions, who spoke to The Mirror last week about the same issue, expanded her explanation of Fairfield’s admission system when she said “All candidates are considered, and we strive to bring the best student,” However, she said that Fairfield has no written formula concerning admissions, and that “there is no more weight placed on race than on anything else.”
Dobai also said that Fairfield continually tries to attract a diverse group of students, but that “part of the appeal of Fairfield is that most of the students all have the same life experience,” making it difficult to attract minorities who come from vastly different backgrounds.
Orlena Cowan, ’05, the president of Umoja, the African American and Caribbean section of AHANA (African, Hispanic, Asian and Native American), believes that Fairfield doesn’t represent diversity.
“It [Fairfield] says that it values diversity, but we don’t have any,” Cowan said.
Most of the student body is resolutely against affirmative action, however. Christa Szantry, ’05, said, “I don’t think we should have affirmative action because it promotes more discrimination and divides us more.”
Most of the other students interviewed agreed that affirmative action would only promote unfair admissions, backlashes, reverse discrimination and quotas.
Erin Pascual, ’05, who is Filipino, agrees with the majority. “Even as a minority, I don’t think people should come in based on a policy. People work hard to get into college and it’s not fair to me if they’re let in by affirmative action.”
Of the students interviewed, there was only a small minority of students who supported affirmative action.
Melissa Bogle, ’05, said, “Despite what is usually said against affirmative action, it is not looking for a handout. There’s a long history of things going against us, we need something to go for us.”
The Umoja organization on campus tries to promote multi-cultural diversity on campus and to embrace diversity, but Cowan said, “It’s hard doing events on campus if there’s not a large minority population.”
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