A task force created by the University of California Board of Regents has just released a report urging the university system to do more to make underrepresented minorities less underrepresented.
In the opening paragraph of its article on the report today, the Contra Costa Times nicely summarizes the report’s findings and conclusion:
Minority student representation at University of California campuses is on the verge of falling behind the state’s overall ethnic makeup, a UC regent’s report concluded, adding that this is a trend that must be reversed with aggressive recruitment and more intense student preparation.
The article noted that the report itself was not limited to students:
At virtually every level, the report said — from undergraduate, graduate and professional school students to postdoctoral researchers to faculty and staff — African Americans, American Indians, Latinos and women are not represented sufficiently.
It seems to me that if the overriding issue is one of fair “representation,” the university itself cannot provide an adequate remedy for the current “underrepresentation” Even if affirmative action were reinstated, what would guarantee that the minorities who were admitted were satisfactory representatives of their communities? Two days ago, after all, Jesse Jackson accused Barack Obama of “acting like he’s white.”
Whatever the verdict on Obama himself, it seems obvious that white-acting black students would hardly be the ideal candidates to “represent” the black community. Moreover, why should universities, embedded as they are in a structurally racist and sexist society, be allowed to pick the “representatives” of minority communities?
The solution is clear: if “representation” is the goal, students selected for admission to the University of California should be elected by the communities they represent, not selected by distant, anonymous, and unaccountable admissions committees.
If “representation” is the goal, then it’s a school, and not a college or university.
If “representation” is the goal, then I don’t see why it should even be called a school. It should be called a legislature or some such.
Here’s an idea: how about the goal of universities, colleges, and school be education? I always thought the “Math Needs More Chicks!” push to be idiotic (what the hell is feminine math?) and a blatant plot for profs to have an easier time of getting dates.