SMU shuts down race-based bake sale
 

http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/09....ap/index.html
SMU shuts down race-based bake sale
Thursday, September 25, 2003 Posted: 1:03 AM EDT (0503 GMT)



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DALLAS, Texas (AP) -- Southern Methodist University shut down a bake sale Wednesday in which cookies were offered for sale at different prices, depending on the buyer's race or gender.

The sale was organized by the Young Conservatives of Texas, who said it was intended as a protest of affirmative action.

A sign said white males had to pay $1 for a cookie. The price was 75 cents for white women, 50 cents for Hispanics and 25 cents for blacks.

Members of the conservative group said they meant no offense and were only trying to protest the use of race or gender as a factor in college admissions.

Similar sales have been held by College Republican chapters at colleges in at least five other states since February.

A black student filed a complaint with SMU, saying the sale was offensive. SMU officials said they halted the event after 45 minutes because it created a potentially unsafe situation.

"This was not an issue about free speech," Tim Moore, director of the SMU student center, said in a story for Thursday's edition of The Dallas Morning News. "It was really an issue where we had a hostile environment being created."

The sale drew a crowd outside the student center and several students engaged in a shouting match, Moore said.

David C. Rushing, 23, a law student and chairman of Young Conservatives of Texas at SMU and for the state, said the event didn't get out of hand. At most, a dozen students gathered around the table of cookies and Rice Krispies treats, he said.

"We copied what's been done at multiple campuses around the country to illustrate our opinion of affirmative action and how we think it's unfair," he said.

Matt Houston, a 19-year-old sophomore, called the group's price list offensive.

"My reaction was disgust because of the ignorance of some SMU students," said Houston, who is black. "They were arguing that affirmative action was solely based on race. It's not based on race. It's based on bringing a diverse community to a certain organization."

The group sold three cookies during its protest, raising $1.50.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled universities could use race as a factor in admissions under limited conditions. In Texas, universities had been banned from using race as a factor under a 1996 decision by a lower court.

A few months ago Young Republicans (Y.R.) at a Calif. school (Stanford, I think) did the same thing. Tavis Smiley inteviewed the Y.R. project sponsor on his NPR show and just made her look straight foolish.

He let her start off talking about A.A. and its, in her view, "inherent unfairness. " Then Tavis starts asking her about the admission points she may have gotten if her parents were alumni, or whether she'd gotten any points for past military service, etc...

By the time T. Smiley was through with her, that girl had more hope about her upcoming geophysics exam than having to deal a minute longer with Smiley.


...yes, my friends, demonstrated Black intelligence is a very good thing.

Demonstrated black intelligence is cool. One minor correction: that bake sale happened at UC Berkeley, not Stanford. Stanford was my first college choice, but since I did no extracurriculars in HS, they wouldn't take me.

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Steeltrap wrote:
...One minor correction: that bake sale happened at UC Berkeley, not Stanford.
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...see what I mean about demonstrated Black intelligence? (smile)

I gladly accept your correction, Steeltrap.

No problem, Tony.

And something else occurred to me: SMU is a private university, similar to my alma mater, USC, so they were probably within their rights to shut down the sale. We're not talking about a taxpayer-funded school.

Have you all read this thread in Chit Chat?

Nope. I come to GC for amusement, comfort and conversation. I deal with ignorance in my real life, and I don't have to deal with it in my cyber life.

ETA: I'm almost 39 (in 6 days) and I'm way too old and tired to give race relations 101 lessons to people who don't want to listen or honestly deal with it. So I stay away.

wow
 

my brother pledged there... alpha.
he's a black republican.
I must ask him what he thinks of that!

Re: SMU shuts down race-based bake sale
 

I will probably get flamed for this (that's o.k. with me though!), but I don't have a problem with this. The reality is that white males make more money historically that all of the other groups listed, even when you factor out other things like education and experience. I know that is not the point they were trying to make, but that's the point I got.

Let me go check out chit chat...

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iceandivy wrote:
my brother pledged there... alpha.
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Please give "chilly" and "ice cold" props to your brother from his bruhs at GC.

I'd be curious as to his thoughts on the issue, being a Black Republican. On an issue with this many ramifications, there are obviously lots of points of view to consider.

I saw a snippet of this on the news yesterday, and they interviewed 2 black students, one female and the other male, and they were both appalled to say the least.

This is one of the best statements I have read on GC lately!!!

And happy birthday :)

It was actually UCLA..or maybe all UC's perhaps? It was definitely UCLA because I was appalled.

That's definitely a possibility.
But I am glad that SMU stopped it.