While I disagree with Paul Musselwhite's hypothesis that affirmative action is the elephant in Duke's room of segregation problems, the practice ultimately helps nobody and has no place at this institution or any other. Musselwhite's statistic, if accurate, raises serious doubt about the integrity of Duke's admissions process.
Duke should hold all applicants, rich, poor, white, minority, legacy, athlete and disabled to roughly equivalent admittance standards. The University has no obligation to account for racial or economic factors, and Bianca Forde's position that the black community deserves affirmative action to redress past wrongs runs contrary to the fundamental concepts of American democracy. If the son of a long-dead criminal cannot be tried for his father's crimes, why should a generation of people pay for the sins of their ancestors?
I must also ask why minority communities accept affirmative action as a solution to racism when it is, at best, an end-of-pipe remedy to the economic stratifications within this country?
In order to drink from Racine Harris' Holy Grail of Diversity, the Duke administration has accepted the notion that diversity might need lower standards. This position is unacceptable.
Duke should not ask the race of each applicant; the question should not be optional, it should not exist. Admittance needs to be based solely on merit, not on heritage. If this results in fewer minority acceptances, then we as a society need to work towards the establishment of true racial equality.
The harsh reality, however, is that I dont believe our current leaders are at all interested in risking their secure positions atop the social and economic pyramid to promote a more egalitarian America.
Thus, the impetus for change must arise from minority communities, and until it does, affirmative action will remain an excuse for politicians and a subtle form of racial discrimination.
George Gilbert
Trinity '06
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