Minority scholarships for whites
 

Last Sunday on "60 Minutes" they had a story on Alambama State Univ. They were given a court mandate to offer minority scholarships to attract white students. The judge's main rationale is that if white students start attending ASU, it will show the rest of the world that ASU have an inferior education. Now you know this had me fuming. Furthermore, the intial requirements for whites to get a fulltime ride was a 2.0 while for blacks it was a 3.0. Since they first offered the scholarships like in 95 or a year or two after that (I forgot the exact date) the requirements have bee made the same. Now a black grad student is suing saying it is taking away his civil rights. He is being represented by a white attny. who is strongly against affirmative action. Now "60 Minutes" was wondering why the NAACP was not getting involved in the matter. The director of their legal counsel totally supports the scholarships. After getting into the story I'd have to agree. Think about it. I know of many schools that offer minority scholarships to try and attract blacks or other minorities. Now I know some of you are saying that affirmative action was put in place to help protect minoriies from racial injustices like discrimation in the work place and educational settings. Many whites would argue that things have envened out. I can go on all day about how we as blacks still haven't reached the "mountain top" in this country, but i won't. However, they would have a valid argument. The scholarships have been upheld, but think about this. If you support AA, you can't ride the fence on this one. If this scholarship would have been ruled unconstitutional, the flood gates would have been open to get rid of programs that has helped us progress as a people. That's why the NAACP is staying out of this one. The director of the legal counsel believes that the attny. representing the black guy is just using him to advance his agenda to get rid of AA across the board. I do feel that the judge's main reason for creating the scholarship is a crock of s***. I don't attend an HBCU but, they have been producing educated Blacks for Hundreds of years. The education has alwayas been first rate. White America didn't know that because their preconcieved notions have them thinking just like that judge does. In closing, the white students were asked how they felt about the scholarship. They said they know how it feels to be a minority. BS, go through 100's of years of oppression and then talk to me. I think I'm being to hard on them. I think they were referring to being the minority in an academic setting. They hate the fact that they are going there on a free ride because of their race, but they weren't gonna be stupid either and miss out on an opportunity like this one. That's right. If Harvard offered me a free ride as part of some minority program, you better believe I ain't turning it down. Let's just say student's at ASU are not happy to have them there under the circumstances.

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KAPPA ALPHA PSI FRATERNITY, INC.
SPR 97
XI LAMBDA

[This message has been edited by NUPE4LIFE (edited September 30, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by NUPE4LIFE (edited September 30, 2000).]

Hi,
Currently, I am a student at Alabama State University and I must say that this topic does not sit well with the students. The students here would like the support of the NAACP and other leaders in our quest for equality. I will not go in depth on this topic. I will only say that if you can be of any service to the student body here at ASU please post a reply or e-mail me privately.
Thanks, NUPE4LIFE, for sheding light on this topic.

My father attended ASU in the early 70's. There were white students then without "minority scholarships." My father didn't receive any kind of scholarship, he had to work part-time to pay for his education. I read in one of the alumni newsletters that ASU is promoting this "minority" scholarship to get more money from the Alabamian government. Currently (I'm not sure if it's complete) AUM (Auburn Univeristy in Montgomery) is building or expanding their campus. ASU is afraid that they will lose more students to AUM. Also, AUM receives more state funds because they are more diverse than ASU. This is ridiculous to me because many white people don't want to attend a college where they will be the minority. I believe that is why the standards for the "minority" scholarship is ridiculously low, IMHO. I'm all for diversity, but having a 2.0 for a free ride in college is sad. I had a 3.9 and I attend a predominantly white institution -- no scholarship for me.

You see, this is what I fight against everyday. Your assumption that a 2.0 will give a minorty student a free ride is as insulting as it is wrong. A minimum GPA only ensures that a variety of students who, although they may not excel academically, but may excel in community service, and school spirit areas can apply. But, because higher education institutions ARE in the business of making money, BELIEVE me, no school is going to give a free ride to a sub-par student just because it makes the school seems diverse. ( Unless he can dunk, that is)

Furthermore, I AM a minorty strudent who attends a predominately white school. And I DID receive the highest merit scholarship that my school offers, not becasue I was Black, that was never taken into account, but because I was #1 out 240 in my graduating class, w/ a 4.1 on a 4.0 scale (AP classes). In my school, MANY of the Blacks students had to transfer because they TOO were turned down for scholarships, and their GPAs were comparable to yours.

It upsets me that you would assume that students with 2.0 GPAs are getting free-rides. Where is this school? And have you ever spoken to a student who has a 2.0 GPA and a free-ride? I would like to know how in the hell they managed that!

If you are a non-minority, I cannot expect you to fully understand why minorities rely so heavily on scholarships to attend college, nor will I school you on that.
But I will say, that if you have cannot produce actual living proof (i.e. such a student as you have described above) then I believe that your comments were uncalled for.

And why wouldn't a white student want to go to a school where he/she would be the minorty? The majority of Black students do it everyday.

A 2.0 GPA is still too low, regardless of the amount of community service you do. I think it's too low for an athletic scolarship. But if you're looking for alumni support and you go to a big football school, the rules are a little more flexible.

By the way, I AM a minority and I didn't receive any scholarships. I'm paying for this school thing BY MYSELF!

You do realize that I was referring to "minority" students as white students? I don't think so, you're too bent out of shape. If you're white and you attended a school that was predominantly black, you would be a minority in that setting. HELLO!

"And why wouldn't a white student want to go to a school where he/she would be the minorty? The majority of Black students do it everyday." That's a rhetorical question. If you have a 4.1, I'm sure you can figure out the answer to that one yourself. -- I attend a predominantly white university. 30,000+ students. <600 are black students. Many on this campus feel that diversity is a waste of time and energy. If I had the choice, I would've attended an HBCU. My father attended one and he said, "Don't attend an HBCU. The world is not all black." Touche.

What trips me out about this situation is that many of us (miniorities) are still being left out. First, we had to establish HBCUs to educate our own. Then, we had to fight to get to attend "other" universities, that's when HARDER AND STIFFER rules and regulations were set to KEEP us OUT! Now, well, not in Louisiana (this miniority scholarship thing has been going on for some time now) anyway...minority scholarships must be offered at predominately black colleges and universities.

What really gets me is that there are FEWER blacks receiving minority scholarships at PREDOMINATELY white universities. I would bet that less than 5% of a (pred. white) school's black population has a GPA of 4.1

However, many non-blacks ( I bet more than 50%) are finding their way to HBCUs. In droves! For instance,I know at both of my my alma maters, the nursing schools are 80-90% white. They are getting in with no problem, all the assistance everything!

For peopl of color, it continues to be a struggle! The white universities set their standards to receive scholarships and it is hard for MOST or dang near impossible of/for us to reach that standard. Yet, some people can EASILY get what they want from us! Really, that is really a slap in our faces!

I agree with the statements of Talaxe and AKA2D'91.

(((("It upsets me that you would assume that students with 2.0 GPAs are getting free-rides. Where is this school? And have you ever spoken to a student who has a 2.0 GPA and a free-ride? I would like to know how in the hell they managed that!"))))

As for this comment, I think that you are missing the point. And I am speaking first hand on this topic because guess what, I am a student at Alabama State University and I see this type of thing going on everyday.

The main problem is that at a predominately white institution, the standard is not lowered to a lousy 2.0 for minorites to qualify for FULL RIDES, in order to fill a "quota" to get state money.

(((("Furthermore, I AM a minorty strudent who attends a predominately white school. And I DID receive the highest merit scholarship that my school offers, not becasue I was Black, that was never taken into account, but because I was #1 out 240 in my graduating class, w/ a 4.1 on a 4.0 scale (AP classes)."))))

This is exactly my point. If the fact that you were black was never considered when you were awarded your scholarship, why should the fact that they are white be considered? Please tell me the difference. In your case, you has something called QUALIFICATIONS...such as GPA and extra-curricular activities. Now what does a white student with a 2.0 have that makes them better than a black student who seeks admission with that same 2.0 under the same circumstances. Please help me understand. There is NO way that a black student can get a FULL RIDE at ASU with a 2.0 GPA.

Why should ASU have to do that? If that's the case everyone should be given a free ride with a 2.0 irrespective of race here at ASU.

I think that this is really sad, because what it does is divides the campus. A change must be made! I am here at ASU on a free ride- not because of ANY scholarships that I got from ASU but because of outside scholarships and the grace of God. However, it's not in my nature to forget about my brothers and sisters who are trying to pay for college, striving to get good grades in high school and then come to a school and not be awarded a scholarship because the money is gone. Yes, I said it, some students are not awarded money, because the money is gone in order to accomodate the white students.

The struggle is not over! The struggle is not over!

[This message has been edited by ASU Diva2003 (edited October 01, 2000).]