Monday, October 26, 1998
Measure ensures the best get educated
PROTEST: Indifference during walkout signals Prop. 209 as dead
issue
By Marc Olson
Did anyone know that the professors walked out on Wednesday and
Thursday? Those of you who answered "yes" all get a warm cookie.
Those of you who answered "no," don’t worry. You didn’t miss much.
Again there was an attempt by campus "leaders" to bring attention
to an issue that has been dead for almost two years now. Professors
throughout the great University of California have decided that the
best way they can combat the horrible effects of Proposition 209 is
to stop teaching for two days.
Right … these same professors will no doubt tell you that
Proposition 209 has blocked access to education and shut people out
from their "right" to higher education. The best way to protest
this injustice is to block out everyone from a higher
education.
During the walkout, none of my professors walked out, no one
talked about it, and, all in all, it was business as usual on
campus. What a bold statement!
In 1995, the Board of Regents voted to take race and gender out
of admissions consideration. Applicants were to be judged solely on
their merits. Again, in 1996, the voters of California passed
 with an overwhelming majority  Proposition 209.
Proposition 209 stated that it was illegal for the State of
California to discriminate on the basis of race or gender. Both of
these measures are now being villified as part of a continued
conspiracy to block access to education for minorities.
Diversity on campus will fall into oblivion, the quality of
education will drop past the level of Figueroa Tech (the University
Southern California, for those of you not from around here) and the
continued conspiracy of the white male is fulfilled.
What Proposition 209 actually does is ensure that those students
with the best academic merit (yes, we are at an academic
institution, not the United Nations) are offered admission.
Race, gender, religion, etc. are not considered because we are
all members of one human race. Utopia realized! Well, maybe not
that great, but a nice alternative. Group politics, which have
dominated the last half of the century, have moved political and
social goals from individual achievement and freedom to group
identification and the "collective good." When one of these
mechanisms (affirmative action) is attacked, the liberal academic
elite get their panties in a bunch, and we don’t have to go to
class.
What this latest display will accomplish, I don’t know. From the
underwhelming support that I’ve seen  very little. The
regents have made their decision, the people have voted and
affirmative action is dead in California. It was a bad idea that we
have shaken off. Qualified students of all races will be offered
admission as long as they can compete with the other students. It’s
called individual effort and achievement. And you know what? We
don’t have a right to an education!
That’s right! I’ll stand in solidarity with Chancellor Carnesale
and say we don’t have a right to a higher education.
When did the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness turn into the right to life, liberty, the pursuit of
happiness and a spot at UCLA? Who decided that all of a sudden
everyone has a right to higher education? People try their hardest
to get a chance to come to college, and all of a sudden it’s a
right to be granted to everyone. The State of California has
decided (wisely or not) that the top students in the state should
be offered the privilege of a high-class education at a subsidized
price.
Affirmative action is a dead issue. The voters are not going to
overturn Proposition 209, Chancellor Carnesale isn’t going to put
his job in jeopardy to defy the regents, and the university is
better off for it.
Now let’s all drag ourselves back to class and get ready for
midterms. Oh, that’s right, no one had their classes canceled. Bold
statement!
Olson is a fourth-year history student and the president of
Bruin Libertarians. He can be reached at [email protected].
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