Affirmative action harmful

As college students, we have had a long history of filling little boxes in on tests. I remember that every year through grade school, high school, and college, I was most confused about the ethnicity box. See, I’m exactly half Asian-American and half European-American, and unfortunately, no such box exists for this particular mix. As a kid, I would select “other” if they had that option, sometimes I would fill in two boxes if they let me, and other times I would choose White or Asian depending how I felt at that particular moment. Over time the boxes have changed, and we now can decline to state (my favorite option), select two or more boxes or select from the addition of more races (i.e. Pacific Islander, Central European Asian, Native American Eskimo, Antarctican, Sub-Saharan-Non European Colonist Native Immigrant, etc.) or multi-racial. A multi-racial box is a cop-out, because aren’t most of us multi-racial, at least to some extent; I mean most people have at least .001 percent of something else.

My point is, these boxes shouldn’t matter at all, so why even ask? Unfortunately, these boxes still matter, especially when applying for internships and post-graduate programs, and are part of a wider range of affirmative action programs.

Affirmative action programs (programs that benefit certain races over others) cause harm not only to the racial groups penalized because of it, but hurt those who benefit even more. Let me give an example: during the Week of Welcome (2004), I remember a meeting in the PAC about diversity. During this meeting, people were allowed to go toward the microphone and say whatever they felt. I remember one young black woman go up and talk about how she felt that one should not assume that she got into Cal Poly because she was black, but rather because she actually had high SAT scores and a strong grade point average. I don’t know if people think that when they see her, but without affirmative action, this would be impossible.

Of course, under Proposition 209, affirmative action policies in California are supposed to have been eliminated (with some minor exceptions). In fact, since implementing Proposition 209, graduation rates have increased for blacks. At UCSD, four-year graduation rates for blacks climbed from 26 percent to 52 percent after implementing Proposition 209. However, those who wish to overturn Proposition 209 contend that enrollment has suffered and that despite the increases graduation rate, this should justify reversing Proposition 209. However, with this logic, shouldn’t it also be a problem that more than 75 percent of NBA players are black? Is it not a problem that nearly all the running backs in the NFL are black? Where is the outrage? Why don’t we have more Asian-American running backs? Of course, it shouldn’t be wrong that an NBA team picks the best players, or that NFL coaches select the best running backs. In the same light, colleges should be picking the best candidates based on merit and talent, not race.

By eliminating affirmative action programs, it increases the incentive for all races to succeed. For instance, those races who are penalized by affirmative action can’t use the excuse that because a lesser qualified minority was given an advantage.

Similarly, the attitude of needing benefits to succeed (an insult to many of those in minority groups who have succeed based on their own merit) would be eliminated.

As most of you know, this last Monday was the 20th anniversary of Martin Luther King Day. At the center of Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream was the equal treatment of all races. This is a noble goal, one that we should all strive for.

Brian Eller is a civil engineering junior and Mustang Daily political columnist.