The editors of the Michigan State University State News commendably chastise pro-affirmative action protesters for disrupting a recent speech on campus by Barbara Grutter supporting the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. But in its own way their own editorial is equally disrespectful to the citizens of Michigan.
The State News has made clear its position on affirmative action and the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative this semester. We support affirmative action in our state’s universities, but we do not feel the issue should be placed before voters for constitutional consideration…. [W]e simply believe that the benefits of affirmative action can not be accurately gauged against its shortcomings when boiled down to a “yes” or “no” vote.
In short, say the editors in effect, we like affirmative action, but it is too complicated to allow ordinary citizens the opportunity to accept or reject it. So let’s just keep doing it.
I almost like BAMN’s disrespectful, in your face disruption better.
In other words, they believe that the benefits of affirmative action are so nebulous, and the logic supporting it so faulty, that a simple yes/no vote probably wouldn’t yield the outcome they want.
i>We support affirmative action in our state’s universities, but we do not feel the issue should be placed before voters for constitutional consideration.
It is all very simply Laura. The Left knows that we are all “bigots” (see Johns next post) so we can’t be trusted with voting on this issue.
Once again the Left shows us its contempt for democracy.
In short, say the editors in effect, we like affirmative action, but it is too complicated to allow ordinary citizens the opportunity to accept or reject it. So let?s just keep doing it.
elitism has a nasty way of spilling over into public discourse–which is exactly why debates on affirmative action policies are mostly verboten. i do appreciate the honesty, although i’m willing to bet that the editors in question do not realize what the quoted paragraph reveals about their wider political assumptions.
The editorial board states unequivocally its own YES vote for affirmative action. But then they write that it’s an issue too complex for a Yes or No response. I’m confused.
The elites in academia ‘clearly’ know better than we ‘poor ignorant proletarian folk’ do, so we can not be trusted to vote on anything.