I’m still enjoying my visit back to my old stomping grounds at Stanford and the Bay Area. It’s also nice to see the Stanford Daily continuing in fine form. Here are two quotes from yesterday’s edition that are, alas, all too representative of student opinion these days, although student opinion on affirmative action is not as uniform as many thought.
On Tuesday the undergraduate student senate supported, almost unanimously, Stanford’s decision to file a brief supporting the University of Michigan, but interestingly that decision sparked a great deal of protest from a student body that is, apparently, much more divided on that issue than is the student government. In the ensuing debate, reported yesterday, the following comment stands out:
Stanford NAACP President David Lytle, a junior, argued, “The point of affirmative action is to recognize that there are these discrepancies and to attempt to even the playing field so that we uphold on the basic tenements of this country ‘All men are created equal.'”
Now in fairness it is not clear whether it was the Stanford NAACP President or the “contributing writer,” Shirin Sharif, who thinks that “All men are created equal” is a “basic tenement” of our country that should be upheld on, but I suppose it’s a good thing that someone does.
From the same edition comes a column, “Questioning Car Culture, which features the following highlighted pull quote:
“Sure, we may do the whole political-college-kid thing and go to the City to protest the war, but if we’re driving a gas-guzzler, the blood is on our hands as well.”
If that’s true, there certainly are a lot of bloody hands out here steering their SUVs.
Meanwhile, in today’s edition there is a front-page story, “SOCC Calls For Diversity,” about a rally held yesterday by the Students of Color Coalition. To me, the most striking thing about the article was the accompanying photo (which can be enlarged by clicking on it) of senior Lolita Roibal speaking at the rally. To the naked eye, Ms. Roibal appears to have no color at all. But then, one of SOCC’s major demands also seems colorless:
Many of the student leaders stressed that prospective queer students can be turned off to the University if placed in a homophobic environment while visiting. They suggested including a checkbox on the application that will allow admits to request a
