Via the Houston Chronicle
Conservative Texas A&M University students, joining a rash of student groups around the country clamoring for attention to their stance against affirmative action, held a bake sale at which buyers were charged different prices depending on their race or gender. The students got the spotlight they craved, but the message they sent fell flat.
The A&M students, members of the Young Conservatives of Texas, sold cookies to "humans" for $2, to Asians for $1, to whites for 75 cents, to Hispanics for 25 cents and to blacks for 10 cents in protest of the new diversity office on the campus, where whites make up about 85 percent of the student population.
Actions like these reinforce the common misconception that affirmative action policies give academically unqualified minority students a get-into-college free card, and they ignore historical discrimination that denied nonwhites opportunities to be successful at any price, no matter their talents or intelligence. The Young Conservatives certainly managed to offend some of their fellow classmates, which is a good way to throw up barriers to inclusion and open exchange of ideas.
YCT could contradict charges that it is helping create a hostile campus environment by working with A&M's new diversity officer to attract and welcome nonwhite students in ways that don't offend their conservative sensibilities.
Thankfully, A&M officials did not shut down the bake sale. Administrators at some other schools overreacted to similar events. After all, the students have the right to free expression, even when the message offends.
Racial dialogue is good for this country - especially on college campuses. But these bake sales by YCT are counterproductive. The Houston Chronicle correctly states that these bake sales held by YCT do nothing to further racial dialogue on campus. Instead they polarize the debate on affirmative action by implying that minorities are given special treatment so that unqualified people can attend college. Nothing could be further from the truth. Affirmative action is about using race as one of a large number of factors when considering applications.
Cross-posted on the offical blog of the Texas Democratic Party: Yellow Dog Blog