AA

I had a lot of mixed emotions over last week’s lecture on affirmative action. I was very put off by the speaker for a variety of reasons. I was disappointed that she was unable to keep political views silent and insisted on reminding us just exactly what she thought (I have also found this to be a consistent problem with teachers here at DU). While some topics may necessitate political views, this was not one of them. Bringing up personal political or religious views when they are unnecessary can only create division and mask the issue at hand. While I understand she is very passionate about her work, I found her anger to be a little unsettling and immature. She came across as very judgmental and negative, which for me took away some of her credibility. I believe in the cause she is promoting but it affects me differently when there is so much negativity and childish antics in her approach (kind of like negative political ads-enough!)
I believe we live in a racist and unjust society where someone’s race, sex, or class will determine their opportunities for the future. Being a white, middle-class male gives me privilege over any minority or female just because of how I was born, not because of my character or what I have accomplished. I am completely against amendment 46 because it pretends to be about equality when it is anything but and like amendment 48, it just simply goes too far. However, I am very ambivalent on affirmative action. It’s not that I don’t support it; I just think it’s wrong but for the right reasons (if that makes sense). I believe in creating diversity and giving minorities an equal and fair chance; I just don’t agree with the methods for solving this problem. It is an issue that needs to be addressed earlier in the education system, along with issues about race and inequality. Maybe this wouldn’t work but I believe it has a better chance of working in the long term than the current state of affirmative action.