4A
Tuesday, February 21, 1995
OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Affirmative action is not the way to combat inequalities
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned a dream that one day people would be judged on the basis of their character and not the color of their skin. It's too bad that the political response to such a dream was to Balkanize the United States with affirmative action. Congress should reverse its affirmative action laws and instead enact and enforce laws that maintain all people as equal. Until this is done, inequality and racism will continue to thrive nationwide as people continue to be judged by the color of their skin and not the merit of their work.
THE ORIGIN OF QUOTAS
Affirmative action originated from an executive order signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 that encouraged the use of affirmative action programs to overcome the effects of past and present discrimination. Without question, attempting to end discrimination is a noble aim.
And what evolved from the executive order was the minority-based quota system. Though this system has remedied discrepancies in hiring practices, the system is outdated and today often serves to foster racism rather than to prevent it.
The United States, as it has done in the past, has put its stamp of approval on the belief that discrimination based upon a person's sex or the color of his or her skin is acceptable. Americans found that practice to be reprehensible in the past, and today's version of racebased discrimination, affirmative action, should be reprehensible now.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was supposed to end discrimination, has all but been displaced by today's ideology of affirmative action. In Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Congress said that no institution would be required to give preferential treatment to any individual or group because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. One would think that the words specifically stating that no institution shall be required to give preferential treatment in hiring disadvantaged groups is a statement of fairness, but unfortunately reality seems to tell us a different tale.
The present system, which has helped minority hiring practices, now serves to foster racism rather than to prevent it.
CASE STUDY:
TEXAS LAW SCHOOL
The University of Texas Law School provides a good example of affirmative action's faults. The Black students of the incoming class of 1992 had a mean LSAT 15 percentage points below that of white students. The Hispanic average was 18 points lower. Yet the school is automatically rejecting qualified white candidates to make room for less qualified minority ones. Apparently, the statement made by Justice John Harlan in Plessy v. Ferguson that said, "our Constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens," just doesn't apply anymore.
RACISM FOSTERED NOT THWARTED
But one must remember that in the age of validated race-based discrimination, adverse effects are not limited to any particular group. With jobs and placements in prestigious schools becoming more competitive, minority groups have further divided themselves and are now in competition with each other for scarce resources. Thus, debate is now centered on whether scholarships for only Black students at public institutions are constitutional. Late last year the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously held that such a scholarship plan at the University of Maryland violated Daniel Podberesky's constitutional rights; Podberesky is half-Hispanic. An appeal to the Supreme Court is likely. But a reversal of the Podberesky decision may be a mistake.
It's time for all people to be evaluated on their qualifications not by their sex or skin color.
The present system forces the equalization of numbers with minority quotas and does not prepare minority groups in a way that fosters competition based on their own merit.
This system, initiated to improve race relations, has proven detrimental to them instead.
LANCE HAMBY AND CHRIS VINE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor's Note. The Kansan realizes that this issue in this editoir is one of intense interest for the University community. The Kansan encourages letters to the editor and guest columns to continue the public discourse.
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Musician devotes career to Islam, better education
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In the early 1970s, his music dominated the charts throughout the world. With tunes that were melodic and lilting and lyrics that were often probing and introspective, he was a major voice of his generation. He was Cat Stevens, a British-born songsmith and poet who created a worldwide following with such songs as "Peace Train," "Morning has Broken" and "Moonshadow."
Stevens commanded worldwide attention throughout the 1970s. His lyrical skills distinguished him in the musical world as millions of fans related to the spirituality and quest for knowledge evident in many of his songs. In 1977, Stevens embraced Islam, and as part of this transformation he became known as Yusuf Islam. The last Cat Stevens album, Footsteps in the Dark, was released in 1984 and included liner notes to the public explaining his conversion.
Always concerned with issues of youth and childhood, Yusuf Islam decided to improve educational opportunities for Muslim children in England, his home then and now.
He observed that the unwillingness of the British government to embrace Islamia School was an example of the prejudice and intolerance, frequently fueled by media inaccuracy, that characterized the Muslim experience in education and in society.
In 1893, he founded the Islamia School in North London. Islamia grew rapidly in popularity throughout the 1980s and by 1899, Islamia Schools Trust included a Girls Secondary School. Islam said that the school had thousands on the waiting list.
Today, Islam maintains his duties as chairman of the board of governors at
GUEST COLUMNIST
Islam has concluded that government acceptance was a "political decision — not an education one because educationally we are doing better than they are." Islam noted that it was "a vision of Islamic education" to teach nonMuslim students in the future.
Islamia. In addition, he was recently re-elected as chairman of the Muslim Aid Organization, a group that works to assist Muslims worldwide in such places as Bosnia-Herzegovina. Islam, 48, maintains a busy schedule as an educator, husband and father of five.
In December, Islam addressed the Seventh International Sirah Conference in California. Organized by the Islamic Society of Orange County, the Sirah Conference discussed the life and teachings of the prophet Muhammad. The conference also focused on education, youth and the family.
Yusuf Islam joined educators from around the world in addressing issues related to education, tolerance and multi-culturalism. In a rare interview granted to me while at the Sirah Conference, Yusuf Islam discussed his school in London and anti-Islamic bias in the world media.
"The most important thing is that if you keep the doors open, things flourish," Islam said. "If you shut the door, things die and the culture will die. Whatever made it flourish will die the moment you shut the door because one of those who wants to come in is going to help you. God gives blessing to those who keep their doors open."
Islam observed with pride that Islamia School was "the top school for exam results" in its area of London. He noted that the school offered a superior education, "a good cause, a moral system, back-to-basics excellence in academics."
As evidenced by his words and deeds, Yusuf Islam appears to have found out.
It's not the nomination of Henry Foster for surgeon general that has
Yusuf Islam implored the West to accept different ideas and cultures as its source of strength and not to view something different as a threat.
Many years ago, a musician named Cat Stevens wrote a song entitled "On the Road to Find Out."
For Yusuf Islam, there is hope for the future.
Clinton and his staffers should have known that the first question put to a surgeon general nominee with a background in obstetrics and gynecology would be about abortion.
Rick Blaising is a social science instructor at LaCresse High School. LaCresse Kan.
presented the problem; it is the way the White House has dealt with the resulting controversy.
Yet instead of being prepared from the beginning with solid answers about Foster's role in abortion, it seems that no one, including Foster, bothered to dig through the very files that every activist, lawmaker and journalist would undoubtedly salivate to have.
Clinton fails to prepare for nomination controversy
It's time for President Clinton to dig out the dust rags and do a little spring cleaning, starting with the staffer in charge of handling public relations for his surgeon general nomination.
or presidential contenders and the election battle begins to heat up, Clinton finds himself bogged down in a spitting match about abortion instead of a dialogue about the quality of medicine in the United States.
As the Republicans narrow the field
Instead, the door has been thrown open, and a welcome mat has been placed outside for every Republican who wants to skirt the abortion issue or any other health-care issue and scuttle the nomination based on number games.
That will mean using that dust rag to wipe off all of the mud conservatives have been slinging at Foster and try to present a squeaky-clean nominee to the Senate.
Thanks to this White House boo boo and the Band-Aid treatment it has received, Foster's qualifications as a physician and his views concerning health care concerns facing our country will not be the issues.
Conservatives must be squealing with glee at this opportunity to make the White House look as though it is foundering in a sea of incompetence instead of gearing up to fight for our loyalities as the election primaries draw near.
Now there is no way out for Clinton. Given his past with presidential nominations, he will have to find his presidential guts while he is spring cleaning and fight for his nominee.
Heather Kirkwood is a Wichita Junior in magazine Journalism.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Reporter's wording sends wrong message
Jake Arnold's opening statement for his article in the Feb. 10 edition of the *Kansan* is a perfect example of Americans' ignorance of the art
Arnold stated, "Unlike Europeans, Native Americans have no art for art's sake." The truth of the matter is that the notion of "art for art's sake" was predominantly developed right here in the United States. Had Arnold attended the artist's lecture by New York printmaker Sue Coe last Wednesday, he would have witnessed something quite different from the old self-consumed, egotistical art of Greenbergian Modernism. Unfortunately Arnold is misinforming the entire student body on art and art history.
I encourage every KU student to get out and learn about the art and artists on this campus. Go to the art museum. Consider it part of your well-rounded liberal arts education.
His intention of highlighting the
There is no reason or excuse for Arnold to have written this blatantly misinformed sentence. The debates surrounding the public financing of art and the life of the National Endowment for the Arts appear to me to be the culmination of this ignorance. The idea that the arts could even survive for one moment off of private financing seems far-fetched.
Lisa Winett
Olathe senior
Native American art event was noble. However, I think the art students on this campus deserve similar attention.
Your paper is really pushing it, especially so soon after the "Big O" article. If I'm going to hurl, it will much more likely be because of the sorry front page than because of alcohol.
Perhaps you might consider saving some paper and only printing two or three times a week.
I won't bother entering into a lengthy discussion about the 10 million possible articles that were more suitable for the front page than the "Reeling and Hurling" article by Robert Allen.
Kansan front page sickens grad student
Eric West
Eric West
Fredericksburg, Va.
graduate student
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MIXED MEDIA
By Jack Ohman
PERHAPS ONE OF THE TRULY FASCINATING STORIES HERE AT CAMP O.J. IS HERE WITH ME: TIFFANY BRITTANY OF KFMX-TV... SHE WAS BORN IN 1963 IN A SMALL TOWN CALLED...
OK.. SO WERE RUNNING OUT OF STORIES...