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The Daily Cardinal > Opinion

'Colorblind' opinion cause for concern

By Letter to the Editor

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Published: Thursday, November 19, 2009

Updated: Thursday, November 19, 2009

Andrew Carpenter’s Tuesday column, “Race deserves no place in university admissions,” is a poorly-argued embarrassment to the students of the UW campus. The entire piece is uncorroborated conjecture. From his opening claim that “there are almost no students who pay any attention to race” to his belief that “it makes sense to expect minority students to drop out at higher rates than white students,” Mr. Carpenter’s journalistic atrocity is representative of nothing more substantive than his own speculation.

In addition to its unsubstantiated argument, Mr. Carpenter’s piece also falls flat because of its implicit, racist foundation: that students of color are here by virtue of being students of color and would not have been accepted were it not for some unverified system of “race-based admissions,” while white students are here by virtue of their academic merit. That scores of qualified students of color are admitted to the university, along with scores of incompetent white students, goes completely unaddressed in his attempt to “show that [he believes] race has nothing to do with a student’s potential.”

This assumption also fails to acknowledge that white students receive a daily “handout” in the form of white privilege. White privilege is a complex concept in critical race theory, but a short description from Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” provides a working definition: “I had been taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage.” If Mr. Carpenter were truly concerned about any unfair impact of race on college admissions, he would have addressed the unfair racial privileges which help to bring many UW students to and through the application process.

While Andrew Carpenter is certainly free to hold incomplete, unsupported opinions on his own time, the fact that he has taken it upon himself to express what he sees as the majority “colorblind” opinion is cause for concern. He does not speak for us, and we do not wish to be included in his indiscriminate generalizations.


—Ryan Adserias
Erica Andrist
Alana Keusch
Jahna Lundberg
Lia Stratton


 

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5 comments

RD RonDog
Thu Nov 19 2009 16:02
Absolutely No Racism in this commentary!

The mood expressed in your opinion shows what a large part of the Problem is!

And, by the way, you've learned your racist indoctrination by your professors very well!!

RD53

Jessica Pharm
Thu Nov 19 2009 09:07
I am glad that a response was written to that ill-informed article and the fact that it was written by a group of white students speaks volumes. No one is going against white people or saying that whites are the problem. It is ignorant people who are the problem.

It would help some of the people commenting on this article if they actually learned some history and stop arguing in generalizations.

Peace-Love-Respect

Jonathan Elmergreen
Thu Nov 19 2009 03:33
@ Jon Derenne

Yes, the entire reason that you and your family members have accomplished what you have is because you have white privilege (insert sarcasm here). Are you seriously making that large of an assumption to conclude that the idea of having white privilege constitutes the causation of all you have achieved in life? That is ridiculous, and it is not anything similar to what this article stated. Nor does it seem that you have an understanding of the term white privilege. By definition, in general privilege means "to have an advantage" or to have a "special right" (legally, socially, physically etc etc). Being white, you are automatically entitled to certain advantages that people of color are not. Whether it is internally within the minds of others or externally through actions in our society and the world, white people usually receive greater benefits than do people of color, solely based on the color of their skin.

For every disadvantage, there is an advantage. And so I find it hard to fathom that some people will openly and quickly agree that people of color are disadvantaged, discriminated against, and considered second class citizens in a predominantly white society, yet the same people will scoff at the idea that white people have advantages, aren't discriminated against, and are first class citizens. If the latter wasn't true, then who in our society would be the people that do?

Lastly, at no point in the article did the writers identify themselves as being anywhere on the political spectrum. It is firstly inappropriate to assume this, and second it is also inappropriate to bring in a topic that has no bearing on the article. By doing this, you are automatically assuming everyone else's political ideology and attempting to make it a divisive issue. Instead, a more appropriate response would be to discuss the ideas surrounding the topic of discussion, not attaching it to political persuasions, which clearly have a direct emotional appeal.

My skin color is white, and I recognize my privilege. I think it is time that others do the same.

Rodion Romanych
Thu Nov 19 2009 03:12
Odd that your argument, too, is speculative and devoid of evidence, facts, statistics (aside from the musings of a feminist hippie...). This gives great cause for concern.
jon derenne
Thu Nov 19 2009 01:45
White Privilege? So everything that myself, my parents, and my grandparents and beyond have accomplished is because we are white? White guilt really seems to be pretty strong on this campus. I'm sick of liberals creating victims where there are none. There is no law forcing anyone to live in poverty. Also, liberals, who love to preach tolerance are some of the most intolerant people on the face of the earth as demonstrated by this article. Why is his opinion a "cause for concern". Because it goes against your far-left ideology?






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