Dave Huber of Hube’s Cube sends word of an interesting discussion at the University of Chicago concerning its recent decision to include Asians in its list of recognized minorities.
Members from the Provost’s Initiative on Minority Issues (PIMI) addressed a sea of multi-colored faces Wednesday night to announce that the Asian student community would fall under the purview of the year-old administrative committee. ….
PIMI, formed in January 2003, was commissioned to review all issues related to enhancing diversity at the University through a broad scope of responsibilities, according to an informational flyer distributed at the meeting. The committee will make recommendations on nearly any issue pertaining to race or ethnicity, such as faculty recruitment and retention, student concerns, and hiring outside vendors or construction contractors.
Under the new policy, Asian faculty and students will be invited to serve on the committee and issues concerning the Asian community will come under its purview.
I found two items in the Chicago Maroon’s report to be of particular interest. First, it appears that the Asian students began to think of themselves as an aggrieved minority primarily because they were initially excluded from recognition as an aggrieved minority.
“Asians have been concerned about their lack of inclusion in the minority community since the initiation of PASC [PanAsian Solidarity Coalition]. In fact, this is one of the issues Asian students first came together about,” said Malika Anand, political chair of PASC.
UC Vice President Klass explained that “the Asian community was initially excluded from PIMI because the committee first formed to discuss the issues of underrepresentation at the University as compared to the national population.”
The other item of interest was quite touching, in an odd sort of way.
Another audience member complained about the unequal treatment that many students experience in the classroom, saying that teachers often avoid eye contact with minority students to discourage their participation. After the comment, murmurs of agreement ran through the crowd.
[Provost Richard] Saller and [VP] Klass looked at each other blankly, and then both gazed at [English Prof. Ken] Warren, a black man, to provide some response to the distraught student.
After a lengthy response addressing the issue, Warren concluded: “It’s a difficult situation that may not have many answers.”
Next step, white students should also asked to be included in the PIMI, on the basis that whites “have been concerned about their lack of inclusion in the minority community,” and that they are the ONLY ethnic group left who are excluded from the PIMI.
That is the difficulty in giving preferences to one minority group but not another. For example, one of the reasons given for giving preferences to Hispanics and Blacks is that they are discriminated against in everyday life. Asians are also. So, in one sense, it is unfair to give preferences to Hispanics and Blacks, but not Asians. (In fact, if you watch TV, there are a lot more Hispanics and Blacks than there are Asians).
However, it is also unfair to give a score boost to Asians because Asians actually score higher than Whites.
If you look at it one way, the acceptance of Asians as a minority may actually mean an end to racial preferences. Why? Once the liberals realize that one minority group doesn’t need “help” in the form of SAT inflation, they may realize that racial preferences of all types are wrong. But that is probably just wishful thinking.