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Harvard Stands Up for the “R” Word
As many are aware, Harvard is being sued for discriminating against Asians, who apparently have to have an SAT score 140 points higher than other minorities to gain acceptance. All of this is very confusing, but Dr. Faust, President of Harvard, makes a Faustian bargain to explain the veritas:
This email letter is addressed to Alumni (of which I am one) and Friends (of which I am probably no longer, and let’s face it, I may also soon no longer be one of the former). I cannot abide by this kind of immoral behavior. Or is it moral? Which one is it? How can we really know the truth? Answer: matriculate Harvard. They hold all the truth. They are so truthful, they can change “R” to “D.”
Monitum: They alone bestow the truth upon those who they decide are qualifiedly diverse. Well, I certainly ain’t that. So there goes the alumni, and the neighborhood.
Published in General
Faust only said diverse or diversity six times in the letter. Surely (s)he can do better.
Dr, Faust is a woman. She is excellent in so many ways. I hope she does not object to my identification of her as a “she.”
But this letter comes off as overly defensive (number of times “diversity” is used). Harvard, like many institutions has created a sort of double-speak. They now inhabit another universe. I actually feel sorry for their predicament. They have become the antithesis of what they set out to be, truthful.
We will diversely defend the diversity of our diverse diverseness.
Reading the litany of diversity benefits, the first thing that occurred to me was–well, what about the Harvard education before the diversity revolution? I spent lots of time in and about Harvard Square many years ago–back when the men were pretty much all white and the Cliffies were at Radcliffe. It sounds like their educations were severely lacking. Well, not really, but you get the point.
Less Faustian, more Orwellian: some races are more “diverse” than others.
The discovery process in this lawsuit promises to be very informative, and I noted that President Faust is already laying the groundwork for what may come out in that.
I will give her credit for not directly attacking Students for Fair Admissions (an organization I know nothing about), but I’m pretty certain that will come eventually through proxies.
I don’t see how Harvard wins this one. It couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.
Keep in mind that this will initially be decided before a District Court in Boston and by an Obama appointee.
There is also a separate complaint pending before the Justice Department, but AFAIK the Justice Dept. has not participated in the Boston lawsuit.
Letter:
Does the higher SAT score not apply to Asians Who are not American? Or does Harvard discriminate against non-American Asians?
Ironically, Faust’s letter declares that those opposed to Harvard’s admissions policies have a “divisive agenda.” However, it’s a bit hard to imagine a more divisive agenda than an admissions policy that pits people against each other on the basis of their race. In fact, I would argue that Harvard is being decisively divisively diverse.
This is a classic example of how to cover up basic truths with dishonest and mealy-mouthed words.
You never ever say the truth, “We’re going to blatantly discriminate against Asians. That’s what we do. We’re racists and zealots.”
Because that’s what Drew is. She’s a racist in a nice outfit.
James,
We see how the bloviating non-standard of “diversity” ends up. It corrupts all academic standards then it erects an educational crony capitalism of favored and disfavored groups. Finally, the reality of a totally biased system that has also destroyed the merit performance of those who are allowed in nauseates us all.
This is the true Faustian bargain. Posturing about privilege creates the ultimate system of pure privilege and destroys the very purpose of the institution in the process. The classic lose-lose proposition of a Faustian bargain.
Coming Attractions:
Regards,
Jim
I was a very proud Princetonian for year. And then I just got tired of trying to defend the indefensible, and I Spoke Truth to Power. Last time they called for money, I told them they could call me again once they have melted all the delicate snowflakes.
What is “the ‘R’ word?”
There is no way to remove bias from these institutions except through the courts. These SJ warriors are clever and stalwart. If it is found that reverse discrimination is just discrimination, they will find their “diversity” any way they can. There are plenty of ways an applicant can signal their favored “diversity” in essays, recommendations and activities. Diversity discriminators have to be ferreted out and slapped with lawsuits every single time they think they have found the secret alchemy that makes discrimination not just legal, but laudable.
The KKK uses the same twisted logic.
Racism
Drew Faust rose to fame for being part of the feminist cabal that drove Larry Summers out of the Harvard president’s office. I find this a hilarious turn of events, that she is on the receiving end of this type of nonsense. I’ll bet Summers is laughing too.
But this letter does say that.
Brian, I just read it again, and nowhere can I find the idea that the writer is a racist. Or are you saying that the author is admitting racism without really saying it?
Ge us saying “We’re going to blatantly discriminate against Asians, and we are proud of it”
Yea she doesn’t say “I’m a racist” but hey, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.
Or it could be a Greater White-Fronted Goose that’s sounding an alarm at the way that saying has been used.
Not if they can pay full tuition.
Diversity at the expense of excellence is going to kill us all.
Diversity is an imaginary virtue.
Only if you know how to read.
It cracks me up that they call us racists when they’re the ones who are so excruciatingly aware of it.
AUGH. I want to make an original comment but the CoC and political correctness won’t let me, so I’ll go Star Trek.
IN ACADEMIC ADMISSIONS [had to put that there, lest someone think (or claim) I was making a different analogy/metaphor — I always screw those up] [Ferengi] are the new [Klingons]
Less powerful than I’d like it to be, but y’all get the point, right?
I disagree. There are two much simpler alternatives: don’t let your talented kids apply to Harvard, and don’t automatically put job candidates with a Harvard degree on the short list when hiring.
By far the most important resource Harvard has is its cachet. It’s sterling reputation is what ensures that its graduates get hired, that donations keep rolling in, and that the most talented high school seniors keep applying. The actual quality of an undergraduate education at Harvard is not objectively superior to that of the other schools that these rejected Asian-Americans will be attending.
The simplest and most powerful way (albeit fiendishly difficult) to stop this tide of overt racism is for Harvard to lose its position as the official crown jewel of the American education system. And the easiest way for that to happen is for people to recognize that the quality of its graduates is no better than the quality of graduates from its near-peers or even much lower-tier schools.
Yet too many conservatives seem to take the view that legal action is much better than simply viewing Harvard as one competitor among many in an incredibly broad and cutthroat market for higher education. Indeed, viewing lawsuits as the best tool to wield against Harvard actually recognizes and entrenches its position at the top. Better to simply show them the back of your hand.
And to stave off the inevitable objection, I am well aware that Harvard, like nearly every other institution of higher education (save of course Hillsdale), is the recipient of copious amounts of federal funding and thus subject to our official policies of non-discrimination.
This is of course correct. But it’s also barking up the wrong tree. There is no lawsuit or Supreme Court ruling against Harvard that could be as powerful as thousands of employers telling themselves “you know what? Our Carnegie Mellon grads are much more useful to our company than our Harvard grads – and much less pompous to boot.”