Rethinking Affirmative Action

Go to Harvard and turn left--these were the standard directions to the White House in 1961.

But as Washington politics have veered right, Harvard students have followed suit, and a campus that was firmly in favor of affirmative action now seems to be doubting its efficacy and fairness.

"At this point, it's doing more harm than good," says President of the Harvard Republican Club Jay Dickinson '98, who identifies himself as "pure white."

"It's not so bad at Harvard because everybody is smart here, but you can see it in the workforce," he says. "I have friends whose parents got slighted from jobs because of affirmative action, not because of merit."

But it is not just campus conservatives who are vocal on the issue. Many students of color say they are also re-examining the issue.

"Practically speaking, we need it. I'm from the South and if someone didn't force integration, a lot of white Southerners wouldn't do it on their own," says Ciara C. Torres '97. "On a philosophical basis, though, I hate it. It undermines minorities, and makes us seem like we need a leg up, like we are unequal."

"It's difficult enough to be accepted as a minority in this society," she continues. "With affirmative action policies, white people perceive an unfair advantage, even if there isn't one."

As students teeter on the brink of an increasingly competitive work-force and the Harvard campus grows more hostile towards affirmative action, it seems that "angry white male" syndrome may be descending upon a campus worried about job security and "getting ahead."

Quiet frustration with current affirmative action policies and whispers of "losing out" on jobs and internships are filtering through the campus, although students say they are vocally checked by P.C. politics.

"I came from a small, rural town in the upper Midwest and almost anyone could get into Harvard from there," says one man, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "After affirmative action policies went into full swing, they wouldn't let normal people, you know, white people like myself, in. Last year, no one from my town got in, and it was because of affirmative action."

Sometimes campus attacks on affirmative action in hiring and admissions policies are more publicized--and personal.

For instance, David W. Brown '97, a Crimson editor, was attacked in the latest issue of Peninsula. In its "Out of Context" section, the conservative magazine printed quotes from Brown's editorials in the Boston Globe and The Crimson, and underneath his name, wrote "possible affirmative-action admit."

Brown, who is Black, says he thinks the nation's rightward slide is definitely reflected at Harvard. "You see a lot of your typical, chest-beating, angry white males, the group is smaller but just as vocal, and like the rest of the nation's, their arguments aren't too well thought out," he says.

"It's just not substantiated. The arguments against [affirmative action] appeal to fears that some unqualified Black male is going to steal your job, not the social reality," Brown says. "According to the Federal Glass Ceiling Report, 95 percent of senior executives in American industry are white males, even though they only compose 32 percent of the workforce. [White male] fears are not justified."

But many students remain unconvinced. And those who say they believe in the intent of affirmative action say they have problems when it comes to the application of the issue in hiring policies.

Even Doug B. Rand '98, who characterizes himself as a supporter of limited affirmative action, says he has felt frustrated with the system.

"I applied to this summer program at the Department of Energy last summer, and by federal law, at least 50 percent of the internships they offered had to be filled by women. I didn't get the job, and I was angry for a while," Rand remembers.

But he warns against backlash: "I don't know how qualified the other applicants were, and so it seems kind of pretentious to say that I didn't get the job just because they needed women."

The Grandfather Clause

Currently, the most volatile debates arise over perceptions of exclusion and qualification, rather than philosophical definitions of equality of opportunity.

"In some cases, basing competition on race just doesn't work," David L. Boggs '98 says. "There's always the case of the rich Black kid from New York City beating out the poor white kid from Appalachia. That's not fair."

Students opposing affirmative action say Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), Inroads and other high-paying, high-prestige minority recruitment programs create racial tension during the summer job search, and even after graduation.

"I was in Inroads, which is a program that gives minority students an internship for all four summers with high-powered firms," Torres says. "You get paid a lot. It's a really sweet deal actually, but I always felt like I was getting a job solely based on the color of my skin, so I quit."

"It's essentially a big tax write-off for the companies--they can say they are helping minority kids and everything," she adds.

"I'm not comfortable with racebased internships, although it's obviously up to the corporation," says Brian E. Malone '96, the president of Peninsula. "But if I were running a top investment banking firm, I would prefer to base my hiring decisions on the most qualified, rather than race."

But advocates of affirmative action say race-based scholarships are no different than hiring practices or admissions policies which do not explicitly take race into consideration.

Carsey Yee, a graduate student and resident tutor in Adams House, says "even if there were no concept of affirmative action, hiring would still be done on a racial basis. You'd have a bunch of 35 year-old white boys hiring another 35 year-old white boy, because people hire the people they feel most comfortable with."

Javier Romero "95 says his current feelings are summed up by a comic strip he recently saw: "An old white man asks this Black woman if it hurts her self-esteem to know that she got her job solely on the basis of her gender and race. She says no, and then asks him the same question."

Some students say they believe affirmative action leads to the admission or hiring of less competent candidates--although almost everyone agrees Harvard's minorities are more than qualified.

"Black students are less qualified than other students based on grades, SAT scores and other special skills like piano playing or athletics. However, I would be hard pressed to say that Black students are not qualified to be at Harvard," Malone says. "I would question weather the qualification for Blacks are the same as the qualifications for whites. In 1987, Derek Bok said that if it wasn't for racial preferences, less than one percent of Harvard students would be Black."

"Somewhere, the standards are lowered," he adds.

But Kristal O'Bryant '98, president of the Black Student Association, says comparing merit by test scores is pointless.

"If we were starting from a place where we were all equals, that would be one thing. But we're not starting at the same point so the idea of a meritocracy is moot," O'Bryant says. "Standardized tests aren't an accurate measure of a student's ability. In order to get somewhere like Harvard, you have to overcome a lot of discrimination. To get to that point shows your drive and ambition."

"Racism is not dead. There's a lack of images of successful Black people, or a lack of images entirely. You don't see Black people in story-books, or commercials," she continues. "Even at Harvard we're not isolated from racism--these things take a toll on your self-image, self-esteem, and confidence. Black people who make it often work even harder than white people who make it, and it's unfair to say we're not qualified.

Other students echo O'Bryant's concern.

"I don't think anyone has a case that Harvard minorities aren't qualified. If anyone isn't qualified, it's the legacies," says Kevin C. Murphy '97. "There's another sort of grandfather clause working here, and if you want to find people who aren't qualified there are other places to look besides minority students."

A recent Maryland Supreme Court ruling which struck down race-based scholarships in the state's university system has brought the contentious issue of affirmative action once again to the forefront of public debate.

And the issue is perhaps even more divisive, more hotly debated here than in Maryland.