Sunday, September 25, 2011

Controversy erupts over Campus Republicans bake sale plans

A Campus Republicans' baked sale scheduled for Tuesday at UC Berkeley has sparked a controversy. The controversy is that the baked goods will be sold to white men for $2.00, Asian men for $1.50, Latino men for $1.00, and Native American men for $0.25. In addition all women get $0.25 off the baked goods. The Campus Republican President Shawn Lewis stated that the event was to "bring attention, to cause people to get a little upset," and to make people think "more critically about what this kind of policy would do in university admissions". He also states that the pricing of the baked goods is a way to make a statement of the considered California legislation to allow national origin and race to effect the admission process. Many people find this baked sale to be racist, however, Shawn Lewis states that it is to bring to light how the California legislation bill will affect university campuses and to also show that UC Berkeley has more than one political view. At the same day and time a phone bank is schedule to show Governor Brown that Berkeley is supporting the bill.

6 comments:

Sophia Wienbar said...

That is a problem that concerns us directly as we are all applying to college now. Often times, it seems like affirmative action is taken to far in these modern times. There are occasions where I feel that some have a certain advantage due to their race in the admissions process. This is an interesting way of presenting an issue and I feel that it might be a little too cynical of the affirmative action process.
-Sophia Wienbar

Jacqueline Young said...

While I agree with Sophia, I get mixed reactions about this bake sale. While the pricing of the goods with regards to ethnicity and gender can be understandable in relation to the bake sale's purpose, and the pricing does exhibit parallels with the measures it is criticizing, is such a blunt demonstration perhaps interpreting affirmative action to too much of an extreme? However, if the goal of the bake sale was attract attention and make people think, I think it definitely achieved its purpose.

AliceZheng said...

I think this type of legislation just fuels the idea of using race as a trump card in the college admissions battle. My own hatred of affirmative action has influenced my thoughts based on race, and I can shamefully say that I believe that race-based legislation only fuels stereotypes and resentment toward other groups. Sure, giving points to people who have had hardships or grew up in poor families is justified, but giving points simply because they are of a certain race is not appropriate in this day and age. If equality is what we are looking for, and is what this country stands for, then race should not be allowed to influence college decisions. Its still true that all humans, no matter what race, are about 99% related anyway.

PatrickG said...

I agree with Jacqueline. Using prices at a bake sale to get a point across about affirmative action is a little bit of an overstatement of what affirmative action is meant to accomplish. Like Alice, I am not really a supporter of affirmative action but I can understand what it was designed to accomplish and the idea was a "good" one. It allowed people who may not have ever been able to go to college attend college and further their education. However, I do believe that the most qualified person should be able to get into any college, even if one ethnicity dominates the college because they were the most qualified that year. So though brining attention to affirmative action is a good cause, a bake sale at a college campus is probably not the most ... useful way to get people's attention.

Amy Jiang said...

I agree with Jacqueline: paralleling prices and race exaggerates the effects of affirmative action. I feel like the intent behind affirmative action is to grant privileges to the stereotype associated with minority races, and not just give easier admission to races for being a minority. For example, a college would consider a Latino over a white even if the Latino's scores are considerably lower, simply because Latinos are generally associated with being raised in an environment that doesn't emphasize education. I feel like especially with the Y Generation, there is an increasing emphasis on equality and earning what you get, and this rigid view demonizes affirmative action. If a Latino or Native American is raised in a poor neighborhood and receives subpar education throughout his life, he'll consistently have worse numbers (SAT and GPA) than his peers in a wealthier environment. Mr. Serrao showed a film last year after the AP about a predominantly Latino school that was full of unmotivated students resigned to be gas station or similar minimum wage workers. In this population, one girl was exceptionally brilliant and excelled at school. However, despite having the potential to go to college on scholarship, her family insisted on pulling her out of school and making her work for the family restaurant. I feel like affirmative action accounts for these unspoken obstacles that many minority races have to face. Without affirmative action, many of the minority, because they consistently fail to score as well as their peers due to a lack of proper resources, would be trapped in a cruel endless cycle of poverty.

Serena Tam said...

I strongly agree with Patrick. I feel that the intent of affirmative action was good, but when put into effect, it created many more problems than was expected. I think that if the goal is to help those who have not had the same opportunities and resources as others, then the college admissions officers should be basing their decisions on the income of the applicant's family and the applicant's academic performance in the context of their environment, not his/her race. Affirmative action is essentially assuming that all Caucasian families are better off financially than minorities. This is obviously not true.