Happy Milk Day

Reader Philip Mone ’02 sends in his ruminations on the day:

No work for me today. Time to reflect.

“I didn’t get into law school because of the color of my skin. I repeat: I didn’t get in to law school because of the color of my skin.”

Is there anything more inherently racist than the University of Michigan Law School rejecting more qualified students because of their skin color? Where’s the equal opportunity in that? Isn’t that unequal opportunity?

Admission to law school should be based on merit and merit alone. As it now stands, University of Michigan Law places Skin Color alongside GPA and LSAT

scores as elements of “merit.”

Skin Color.

Hmmmm, our constitution actually specifically states that that’s illegal.

Someone, please present the other side of the case. Am I missing something? Right now it seems EXTREMELY hypocritical, especially on this day of recognizing civil rights, for anyone who has ever felt they were discriminated against because of the color of their skin, to be arguing FOR the continuation of raced based admissions at University of Michigan Law. Ask yourself: what would Martin Luther King, Jr., say on this issue.

Well in a sense, in his famous speech, he did ring in on the broader issue.

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

That dream is not being realized, at least not at the University of Michigan Law School, because Dr. King’s children, if they were to apply today, WOULD be judged by the color of their skin.

One final thought: there is no such thing as “reverse discrimination.” It’s just discrimination, plain and simple; all that changes is who wins and who loses.