A group of College Republicans at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island has set up a whites-only scholarship to protest affirmative action, according to the Associated Press.
As a serious scholarship, the whites-only scholarship at Roger Williams is a horrible idea.
Originally valued at $50, the scholarship has been bolstered by donations to $250.
Applicants must write an essay on “why you are proud of your white heritage.”
Also, a picture is required to “confirm whiteness.” The scholarship application goes so far as to say,”Evidence of bleaching will disqualify applicants.”
While relatively unknown, other whites-only scholarships do exist.
As reported in Jet, in 1995 a federal court required Alabama State University and Alabama A&M to create such scholarships to increase white enrollment at the two historically black schools.
Graduate student Jesse Tompkins filed a lawsuit over the scholarships because he feels that any scholarship that excludes blacks is unfair.
Tompkins is right when he says that scholarships excluding blacks are unfair.
But that’s not the true meaning behind the scholarship.
The scholarship at Roger Williams exists as a parody of both the scholarships at ASU and more traditional affirmative action scholarships, which allow only minority students to qualify.
The new scholarship at Roger Williams will likely draw fire from affirmative action supporters. Possibly the scholarship will even make the irony of their positions apparent.
While proponents of affirmative action often have good intentions, they are either not aware or choose to ignore the inequity of racial discrimination.
Ironically, they are often attempting to amend the results of past discrimination, but in doing so, they are institutionalizing racial discrimination.
It’s a parody, and as such, it’s an amusing way to protest the inherent unfairness of affirmative action.
While the humor in the application is in poor taste, it only strengthens the immediate reaction to the scholarship-that’s not fair!
This reaction is appropriate because it is unfair to discriminate, not only for or against whites or blacks, but on the basis of race in general.
Even so, this doesn’t change the wrongness of the scholarship.
Instead of actually discriminating, the scholarship should be either withdrawn or should be open to everyone.
It makes a good point, but because the point is that discrimination is wrong, the scholarship should not be awarded on basis of race.
Possibly it could be awarded to a non-white who applied for the scholarship. This is solely the imperative of the College Republicans.
Wrong though they may be, private scholarships should be allowed by the government to discriminate as they see fit.
The College Republicans at Roger Williams University deserve applause for their original method in making an effective argument against affirmative action.
However, to remain true to their point, they too must drop the race requirements in their parody, lest they become hypocrites.
Nathan Alday is a senior aerospace engineering major. He can be reached at [email protected].