June 22, 2006
Enhancing diversity in higher education

The state Higher Education Coordinating Board Advisory Council is meeting at this hour in Puyallup to figure out how to "enhance diversity in higher education". In a letter to the Advisory Council , HECB Executive Director James Sulton writes:

Obviously, we need to rise to the challenge at a time when affirmative action and diversity programs are increasingly under fire. In the past, initiatives such as Proposition 209 in California and Initiative 200 in Washington had a dampening effect on any effort to enhance the opportunities of students and professionals of color on our campuses.
In other words, all of these public employees are meeting at public expense to try to figure out how to subvert the expressed will of the people of Washington to remove institutional racism from publicly-funded institutions of higher education. Great.

Meanwhile, it turns out that the HECB enrollment statistics [more data here] show that the percentage of white students in higher education has fallen substantially in recent years.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at June 22, 2006 11:00 AM | Email This
Comments
1. If they want to enhance diversity they can start by adding some Conservatives to the faculty.

Posted by: swassociates on June 22, 2006 10:58 AM
2. Talk about PC run amok -- I wonder if there are any BAMN operative involved?

Stefan, you could have a hayday with the link above!!!

Posted by: Patrick on June 22, 2006 11:03 AM
3. Why aren't they trying to bolster the enrollment of gender?

Why isn't there a title IX for gender enrollment?

Posted by: Andy on June 22, 2006 11:10 AM
4. Amazing what libs will waste their time on! This is NOT a problem, Higher Ed Coord. Board Advisory Council people!

Posted by: Misty on June 22, 2006 11:33 AM
5. Somehow I suspect when they state they are "enhancing the opportunities of students and professionals of color on our campuses", they are only referring to African Americans. That's because at least for this state, they don't want to admit that Asian students are doing circles around any other ethnic group in regards to enrollment and actually completing degrees.
For example, when I went to the UofW in the early 90s, Asian students were a very large proportion of the total student body. I don't know if they actually passed the halfway mark or not, but they were certainly not a "small minority". I assume they have even a stronger presence now, although since it's been years since I've been on campus, I can't say for sure.

Posted by: lmk on June 22, 2006 11:35 AM
6. From 1995 to 2004, the overall enrollment grew only 15%. Amongst the three areas of higher education, here are the increased enrollment percentages (where is the problem for minorities?):

Black - 32.04%

Native American - 5.3%

Asian/Pacific Islander - 24.25%

Hispanic - 100.29%

White - 2.74%

Nonresident Alien - 1.17%

Other/Unknown - 85.22%

Total - 15.15%

Posted by: SouthernRoots on June 22, 2006 11:57 AM
7. The problem is that we can't let minorities stand on their own. They need us Democrats to help them along. We need to make sure they know that, if it were not for us, they would still be working the fields.

Posted by: Eric on June 22, 2006 12:38 PM
8. I don't even care about the affirmative action crap any more, even though it negatively affects my kids' chances at college. THIS is what really fries me (from michellemalkin.com):

"The Ministry of Higher Education and the General Authority of Civil Aviation are offering scholarships to Saudi men and women to study various majors related to civil aviation in the United States.
The forms are available online at the ministry’s website until July 12 for both bachelor’s and post-graduate studies. Nominations will be announced on July 31. Interviews will take place in August and final scholarship winners will be announced on Sept. 2.

The scholarships are available in majors such as communications, electrical and computer engineering, computer science, systems analysis, air traffic control, flight safety, and other majors related to the airline transport industry.

Applicants for the bachelor’s program must have a minimum score of 85 percent in the science section and 90 percent in other sections, such as Qur’an memorizing, administrative and commercial sciences."

Why, why, why? This is not how we should be dealing with Saudi Arabia. Why don't we buy them their own fully fueled private jets while we're at it?

Posted by: Peggy U on June 22, 2006 12:47 PM
9. I have several thoughts on this...some of which are not printable. These universities are meant to serve the state population. Perhaps if the administrators concentrated on providing reasonably priced, quality educations they could attract a more 'diverse' range of people. WSU, Eastern, Central and others are located in Eastern Washington, which is predominately white due to numerous historic factors. Why are they misusing time and money trying to attract 'diversity' from out of the area.

Do they plan to match the racial profile of the region? the State? the western US? The UN? What is the baseline?

Posted by: PaleAle on June 22, 2006 01:14 PM
10. Feelings, nothing more than feelings...

Posted by: Jericho on June 22, 2006 01:43 PM
11. I doubt the liberals who run our state universities will let anything like the law get in the way of their little agenda. There's lots of creative ways they can pick and choose minorities over more qualified candidates, and how would anyone challenge it?

[Palouse stepping lightly] Let's just say my son, who we will call Bob, is being compared to another applicant who might live at an address in a neighborhood which is predominantly African American or the name on that application is Tyrone or Chamiqua, or....Point is there's lots of things on college applications that might hint at what race you are, and it is difficult if not impossible to prove whether anyone looked at these items and factored it into the admission decision.

Posted by: Palouse on June 22, 2006 02:01 PM
12. Translation:

They've got to meet in Puyallup to craft more cryptic doublespeak rhetoric and less visible programs that will keep race the primary criterion for admission to WA universities.

The HECB has two goals. 1) To continue the soft Marxism of class division by using race as a wedge. 2) To remove pro-reason, pro-capitalism, pro-Western metrics from the matriculation process.

The Renaissance was the spark that established institutions of higher learning. This is the anti-Renaissance that seeks to kill them off.

Posted by: Jeff B. on June 22, 2006 02:35 PM
13. Jeff B. How right you are -- 40% male higher education attendance (and falling). Suffering male bashing and truth basing for 13 years in government education fewer and fewer young men see any point in continuing that voluntarily for four more years.

Similarly, there are less and less male principals. Deans are increasingly women. History teachers in high schools are increasingly women. Why would a man want to subject themselves to such an environment that consistently bashes truth and males?

We have a growing knowledge deficit. See the recent book of the same title by Hirsch.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618657312/002-4959719-2680059?v=glance&n=283155

As I was saying, feelings...

Posted by: Jericho on June 22, 2006 03:15 PM
14. Peggy--that blew me away; my view? like others; not printable; inches are inches--here, in Harlem ghetto or in Saudi; a 75% test score is just that; no color; no gender organs hanging from that score; minority contractor? fine--but--is your WORK good? yea--life is unfair; maybe you are in a closed business area that is hard to break in to; well, join the club; this 'institiutional racism' shyt is just a vapour--a shadow; it is a non-reality; created for the classes who live off of it and not their OWN talents or drives; makes me sick; people respect talent & ability, not color; your scores low? too bad; tutor your own kind; get your communities to help--and not on MY dime;

Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on June 22, 2006 03:28 PM
15. ... this 'institiutional racism' shyt is just a vapour...

If there is any 'institutional racism' being practiced by anyone anywhere, it is by leftists in places like universities and government. When I was a GTA at a university (not in SayWA) there was a black student in one of my classes whose tried very, very hard, came to class every day, turned in all of his assignments, was very respectful and well-liked by his peers, but he just wasn't getting the material, and it showed on his test scores and other grades. So when final grades were turned in, I could not in good conscience give him and 'A', or even a 'B', but neither did I flunk him or give him a 'D'. I gave him what I considered a fair grade, and he never complained. But next quarter I was summoned to the Dean's office to explain to a representative of the UNCF why I had graded this student so "harshly". I took that as an assumption on their part that I was being racist for simply giving what I thought was a fair grade. Fortunately, at the time, I was a fairly organized person, so I had all of my class records, the exams and assignments given, the distribution of scores for all students of all colors, etc. Still, it shocked me to think that there was an assumption of guilt. This was in the mid-1970s, which was probably the beginning of the practice of institutional racism and thought control by the leftists.

Posted by: Interested Observer on June 23, 2006 05:31 AM
16. Interested--just my point; when i failed in life i had no ethnic or minority interest group backing me like UNCF, nor would i have gone crying to one; when someone coujures up those groups, i immediately question their character (whiny or victim) or their ability or willingness to do the job; anyone can complain; it takes a true character to (humbly) admit failure, try again and better one's self; i've worked with many physically disabled workers who had true cause to complain or want special attention. hey never sought special status; they quietly did their best and were happy to try; so, the whines of diversity pushers fall on my deaf ears;

Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on June 23, 2006 08:25 AM
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