IUNS

Return Of The Invidious Ubiquitous Non-Sequitur

For several years I encountered one particular, and particularly unpersuasive, defense of racial preferences so often that I named it the “Invidious Ubiquitous Non-Sequitur” and its own tag line, IUNS. Here’s a summary and definition from one of those old posts, which follows a typical example in italics below quoted from the New York Times […]

Is Discrimination Discrimination?

There was a time, in the early dawn of blog history, when I found myself spending so much time responding to the argument that racial preferences were O.K. because other kinds of preferences (legacies, athletes, tobacco farmers, etc.) were O.K. that I coined a term to refer to that argument: Invidious Ubiquitous Non-Sequitur, or IUNS. […]

Duh!

From a student letter in the Michigan State News: First of all, admissions policies take many things into account and with the passing of Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, or MCRI, only race and gender will be eliminated. Universities, such as the University of Michigan, will still be able to consider geography. Well, yes. It’s true. […]

Another Invidious Ubiquitous Non-Sequitur Debate

A year or so ago I found myself attempting to swat down so many attempts to argue that discrimination on the basis of race or religions was no different from discrimination on any other basis — residency, musical talent, athletic ability, legacy status — that I gave this argument a name, IUNS (for Invidious Ubiquitous […]

Williamsburg’s Village Idiot II

In “Williamsburg’s Village Idiot,” posted on New Year’s Eve eve, I discussed the sophomoric, over-the-top response of Timothy Sullivan, the president of William & Mary,” to an affirmative action bake sale on campus sponsored by student critics of racial preferences. (He responded, unoriginally, to a Charlottesville minister who criticized his action by replying that “[s]ome […]

Constitution and constitution

In a recent generous and polite email, reader Ray Crites gently takes me to task for not emphasizing, or even mentioning, the 14th Amendment in my recent Invidious Ubiquitous Non-Sequitur (IUNS) post discussing why discrimination based on race is not the same as discrimination based on legacy status or athletic or musical ability. In the […]

“Diversity” … Discrimination … and the DISCRIMINATIONS Award For Originality

Long-time readers of this blog, if there are any, in addition to having a high tolerance for pain, will be familiar with my recurring criticism of what I’ve termed (with Joanne Jacobs’ assistance) the inividious, ubiquitous non-sequitur (IUNS), namely, the view that if any kind of discrimination is legitimate, all kinds must be legitimate. Because […]

More New York Times Inanity

In his “Editorial Observer” column in the New York Times on March 31 that I didn’t get around to blogging until now (there were too many other items of substance to be attended to first), Adam Cohen argues, if that’s the right term, that race preferences should be upheld out of regard for “the minority […]

The American Jewish Committee Opposes Quotas, Supports Michigan

The New York Times “Week in Review” published some quotes from a few of the briefs filed in the Michigan cases. Among the more interesting were the quotes from the brief filed by the American Jewish Committee, which supported Alan Bakke in his suit against the University of California but opposes the plaintiffs in the […]

Another Invidious Ubiquitous Non Sequitur (IUNS)

The Triangle, the student newspaper at Drexel University, defends diversity and argues that allowing race as a factor is a necessary means. As long as universities allow alumni and large donations to dictate who gains admittance, both practices that benefit primarily white students, it