Our Readers Speak: The Bakke Case and Affirmative Action

OUR READERS SPEAK: THE BAKKE CASE AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Our poll of attitudes towards the Bakke case generated an uncommonly vigorous response. Many respondents were critical of the...

...Furthermore, I know from personal, first-hand experience that medical schools are admitting unqualified, incompetent minority students and are pushing them through to graduation...
...Quotas, affirmative action, goals all say the same thing to me...
...I think it should be up to blacks to decide which they would prefer: a shortage of black physicians, but recognition of qualifications, or a growing number of black physicians, but treated condescendingly until proving their worth...
...The Bakke case is a question of merit, not race, religion or sex—and any method which avoids merit is "numerus clausus" (quota...
...In practice it means that the Supreme Court could decide that it is permissible to have preferential selection procedures and quotas for members of certain formerly dis-criminated-against minority groups...
...Affirmative action" is based on quotas which, whatever the semantics, are anti some other people (Jews, Catholics, whatever...
...Jews have always had to be "overqualified" to be accepted in professional schools...
...The United States stands well below many Western democracies in the number of medical professionals per thousand population...
...As a result of this philosophy, much to the disgust of some of my colleagues in my academic program, I am not a supporter of affirmative action programs as currently constituted...
...The scores of both of these subsets are constantly below average, and ironically their ultimate goals are no different from white males...
...It is also clear that a good number of people persist, in one form or another, in asking some version of the question "Why can't they be like us...
...gained at the expense of others, indeed our security as Jews is dependent on the equitable treatment of all minorities...
...In the interest of providing as much space as possible for the comments, we do not reprint the poll itself...
...I have been told that I am not a liberated ' 'new white" person unless I feel personal guilt for the discrimination of the past...
...And now, the comments: The University of California quota system . . . reflects the tradition of selecting the "right type" of student, on grounds that are not limited to academic merit...
...Blacks are the real victims of affirmative action...
...three-quarters support government efforts to remedy the consequences of discrimination...
...Martin Luther King...
...Please don't print my name...
...I have seen office procedures modified for black students to enable them to sign onto interview schedules when a white student in a similar situation would have been excluded from interviewing...
...All my life I've been brought up to be a stereotypic Jewish liberal—the affective rather than cognitive kind...
...It has been 13 years since passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and about half as many since the start of preferential "affirmative action" programs...
...As a third year med student, having worked with black students, attending physicians, and residents, and having seen how they were received by the black people they treated, I don't think that a non-black doctor could have helped those patients as much...
...Pointing out that it is racism any time that race is taken into consideration is simply the white distancing phenomenon of semantic argument...
...I would prefer a less Kafkaesque approach, such as a massive remedial education program which would allow minorities admission on merit by increasing their level of competence...
...I have been told to telephone a list of students, all black, to encourage them to sign up...
...We take comfort from the fact that so many of our readers use the space provided to add their own comments...
...This case, if settled the right way (against affirmative action and any provision for race, etc., in admissions) may help stop the rot...
...What has this diatribe to do with the Bakke case...
...Some have almost no minority students...
...They benefit the people in need of such assistance and— in the long run—benefit all of us, by assuring that standards of quality are maintained in academic and business institutions...
...But it is also an encouraging encounter with very many thoughtful people, and there is clearly a widespread consensus that endorses compensatory programs for younger people and that would support the expansion vof opportunities for all Americans, including the disadvantaged—so long as each case is examined on its own merits, and people are not termed "disadvantaged" by virtue of their race, or even their class...
...It means that those who are non-members of such groups will be discriminated against...
...The Bakke case has been the vehicle for my own decision on where I stand...
...one in 12 thinks of himself as a conservative, and the rest are "other...
...We are also creating a new "disadvantaged" group—the young,- white male trying to get a start in life...
...Passion, anguish, intelligence were all much in evidence...
...I was able to intellectualize the need for blacks to take over their own movement and effect their own political, cultural, and social liberation...
...Black doctors who get through are generally quite qualified, but looked down upon as having "not really deserved to get in...
...a third consider themselves middle-of-the-road...
...Does the issue trouble me...
...Even a greater wrong was done the whites by creating arrogance instead of humility and by encouraging the growth of the fiction of a superior race...
...Justice Douglas in the case of DeFunis v. Odegaard (DeFunis is also a white Jewish male): "There is no constitutional right for any race to be preferred...
...For some time I have been torn between my liberal feelings, my legal understanding of discrimination, and my own self-interest as a white Jewish male (my race awareness level is raised to the point that when discussing racial matters, my Jewish identification is relegated to second place...
...If our history of persecution has served any purpose, it has taught us to be the staunchest champions of those who have shared similar misfortunes...
...Our own equal opportunity cannot be...
...Blacks are necessary allies in the fight for support for Israel...
...The years of slavery did more than retard the progress of blacks...
...Blacks and other minorities do suffer, and the situation in professional schools has deteriorated...
...I am a faculty member of a medical school and I find present policies increasingly intolerable...
...exactly half the respondents feel the government has gone too far in supporting the interests of disadvantaged minority groups, with the rest evenly split between those who think the government has not gone far enough and those who think the government is doing just about what it should...
...Jews do a considerable disservice by their position on Bakke—it is perceived in the black community as hostility...
...The real solution would be for the medical schools to increase their enrollment, but if that is not possible—there is no alternative to affirmative action...
...No matter how you define it, it is discrimination...
...In my opinion those Jewish organizations which have filed amicus curiae briefs supporting Bakke have brought dishonor on themselves and the American Jewish community...
...How long will it take for the government to realize that being "disadvantaged" is not the consequence of pre-1865 slavery, but of disintegrated family structure, lack of commitment to or desire for education, and a welfare system that, according to a congressional subcommittee, pays more for indolence than the average blue-collar worker earns for his labor...
...There is altogether too much talk of rights and not enough about responsibilities...
...At the beginning I was against "affirmative action...
...Discrimination on the basis of race or religion or sex is against the law...
...86 percent acknowledge that racial minorities have, indeed, been victims of discrimination...
...Affirmative action means never achieving anything by one's own merit...
...The problems that we encounter in designing abbreviated questionnaires on complex issues are several, and the Bakke issue is more complex than most...
...Programs designed to raise the capabilities of people are beneficial to all...
...Our selfishness endangers the alliance...
...Though I don't think the Jewish community is very threatened by the affirmative action programs, I feel threatened...
...Although the word is not used, we have a minimum quota for women and another for minorities...
...I graduated with enough "qualified" physicians whom I would not permit to treat my cocker spaniel, to know that grade point average alone does not insure the production of a good physician...
...I graduated with enough '' qualified'' physicians whom I would not permit to treat my cocker spaniel to know that grades don't insure the production of a good physician...
...No other minority has been treated like blacks...
...The Jewish experience is irrelevant to a discussion of racism, I was told...
...Another recent decision prevents employers from making special arrangements in work scheduling for those who observe the Sabbath if it would mean impinging on affirmative action seniority systems...
...As a California professor, I feel the whole problem has been approached in the wrong manner...
...Fifty-eight percent feel that affirmative action is a threat to Jews, while 32 percent say it is not...
...The Jewish community is not suffering...
...Having suffered slavery, discrimination and welfareism, they must now suffer special government treatment...
...On the other hand, I firmly believe that something must be done to get minorities into mainstream American life...
...This meant wishing I was old enough to be a freedom-rider in the early sixties and idolizing the Rev...
...In a staff development program in a residence hall I have been told that I am not a liberated "new white" person unless I feel personal guilt as a white person for the discrimination of the past...
...The point of "qualifications" for admission is not and should not be one of percentage points alone...
...Then I read a line by William Blake: "The Same Law for the Lion and the Ox is Oppression...
...But I feel very strongly that affirmative action is necessary now and for some time to come—things are not equal yet...
...Those of us who fought for that principle in the late '40's and '50's are horrified by the cries of the present day liberals to go against the law...
...does not...
...Herewith, a summary of some of the more interesting statistics: Two-thirds of our respondents claim that they have followed the case closely...
...Haven't we Jews learned...
...Blacks should at least meet the standards demanded of other applicants...
...name withheld) P.S...
...slightly over half support affirmative action programs, and nine out of ten feel the Jewish community should actively express its views on the matter...
...That is that there is a group of people who will be favored over others...
...For example, it has recently been decided by the Supreme Court that it is permissible to discriminate against white people who happen to comprise the unique Chassidic community in Brooklyn in order to create voting districts which will ensure black representation in a legislature...
...I was able to understand how blacks who see themselves as an oppressed people could more easily identify with currently displaced and "homeless" Arabs than with formerly displaced but "integrated" Jews in the Middle East...
...There is no superior person by constitutional standards...
...The solution is to allow in those who qualify even if it means enlarging the medical schools...
...The principles of admissions and hiring on the basis of merit are integral to my security as an American...
...I now work in a business placement office in which I see the fruits of Affirmative Action programs...
...The Bakke case l)as assumed an importance to me that I would not have anticipated...
...Yesterday the right type was WASP—today a black quota is included—tomorrow perhaps a test of political ideology or party . . . Jews must preserve the excellence ethic, even if the U.S...
...I feel that everyone applying to a graduate school (law, medicine, etc...
...Half our respondents consider themselves liberals...
...You bet...
...The black experience in the U.S...
...If our history of persecution has served any purpose, it has taught us to be the staunchest champions of those who have shared similar misfortunes...
...is unique...
...The number of people whose responses were simply bigoted, by any standard, was higher than we had expected, albeit not high...
...However, anyone who objects to this new usage is a racist...
...If Allan Bakke were me, or my child, it's possible I might sing a different tune...
...My own credo on Affirmative Action is a quotation from the dissenting opinion written by Mr...
...This time, the number who did so was astonishingly high, and the comments themselves unusually interesting...
...nor is he subject to any disability...
...Perhaps our (the Jewish) solution lies in getting ourselves declared an ethnic minority (3 percent of the general population of the USA) who have experienced discrimination in the past and are now being unfairly discriminated against by a new form of "quotas...
...In the course of my studies I have been subjected to "race awareness" programs which define "racism" in such a way that no minority group member is able to be a racist...
...At the same time, many people retain a commitment to equality which leads them to endorse current programs, even if they sometimes resemble quota systems...
...Although, as a first generation Jewish American, I find "quotas" distasteful, I don't feel it is wrong to give racial minorities who have been discriminated against a better chance to take part in the system...
...As a white male it will be hard enough for me to find a job this spring without "proving" in print that I'm a "racist...
...I am currently pursuing a graduate degree which will be my credential for administrative work in colleges and universities...
...It is imperative that the number of black doctors, etc., be increased...
...Whatever his race, he had a constitutional right to have his application considered on its individual merits in a racially neutral manner...
...A DeFunis who is white is entitled to no advantage by reason of that fact...
...This is patently unfair to both black aspirants to medical school and the communities they might serve...
...My zaida made it without affirmative action...
...Many respondents were critical of the questionnaire itself, as they had every right to be...
...Part of this activity is an effort to avoid the charge of discrimination which seems to be lodged any time a black student does not get what s/he wants, but much is the stated Affirmative Action policy...
...And, finally, the following letter: The Bakke case has struck a nerve in me, so I've decided to write these extended comments to be appended to my response to your survey...
...Affirmative action is not the same as quotas...
...It meant explaining away antagonisms between black nationalists and Jewish volunteer workers, between black parents and Jewish school teachers and administrators, and between black activists and Zionists...
...What is really needed is a restructuring of the economy, starting with a full employment policy...
...Reading through the comments is sometimes a somewhat embarrassing experience...
...Recruiters buy resume books and send invitations to interview to all black faces and Spanish surnames regardless of grades or experience...
...In such a program I was treated as an unreconstructed bigot for pointing out that as a member of a discriminated-against people, I was not willing to take on the guilt of my oppressors for their equally obnoxious oppression of others...
...And when will the government realize that they can no more create qualified doctors and lawyers by legislative and bureaucratic fiat than they can repeal the law of gravity...
...The real problem arises out of the fact that affirmative action programs are being implemented during a time when jobs are shrinking rather than expanding...
...It was first used by LBJ in his Howard speech, written by Moynihan in 1965, and meant positive steps to bring minorities up to equality on the starting line...
...Instead of changing, and in some cases lowering, entrance standards and changing or lowering job requirements to accept "minorities," everyone concerned would be served far better by the establishment of programs designed to raise the qualifications of people in these groups so that they may compete equally for these positions...
...It is doing a disservice both to society and to the disadvantaged to lower standards and quality, and it must ultimately reduce the quality of life in this nation...
...I graduated from medical school in 1970—my class of 170 had no blacks...
...While it is difficult to summarize the flavor of the comments, it is clear that very many people see no important differences between affirmative action programs as they have come to be administered and the imposition of quotas...
...Neither is the general white community in relation to entrance to professional schools...
...However, I can't explain away the excesses of Affirmative Action programs which begin to look like programs of legitimized discrimination...
...DeFunis v. Odegaard, 416 US 312, 336-337 (1974) (dissent...
...They turn into programs of officially endorsed discrimination...
...and who has had the advantage or privilege of four years of undergraduate training, cannot expect to be admitted to a graduate program without meeting the minimum academic requirements of the institution...

Vol. 3 • January 1978 • No. 3


 
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