THE INFAMOUS GEORGE DUBB-YA

President Bush's Remarks on University of Michigan Affirmative Action Case
1/15/03 10:28PM
By The Associated Press

President Bush's remarks on the University of Michigan affirmative action case before the Supreme Court.

Good afternoon. The Supreme Court will soon hear arguments in a case about admission policies and student diversity in public universities. I strongly support diversity of all kinds, including racial diversity in higher education. But the method used by the University of Michigan to achieve this important goal is fundamentally flawed.

At their core, the Michigan policies amount to a quota system that unfairly rewards or penalizes prospective students, based solely on their race. So tomorrow my administration will file a brief with the court arguing that the University of Michigan's admissions policies, which award students a significant number of extra points based solely on their race, and establishes numerical targets for incoming minority students, are unconstitutional.

Our Constitution makes it clear that people of all races must be treated equally under the law. Yet we know that our society has not fully achieved that ideal. Racial prejudice is a reality in America. It hurts many of our citizens.

As a nation, as a government, as individuals, we must be vigilant in responding to prejudice wherever we find it. Yet, as we work to address the wrong of racial prejudice, we must not use means that create another wrong, and thus perpetuate our divisions.

America is a diverse country, racially, economically, and ethnically. And our institutions of higher education should reflect our diversity. A college education should teach respect and understanding and goodwill. And these values are strengthened when students live and learn with people from many backgrounds. Yet quota systems that use race to include or exclude people from higher education and the opportunities it offers are divisive, unfair and impossible to square with the Constitution.

In the programs under review by the Supreme Court, the University of Michigan has established an admissions process based on race. At the undergraduate level, African-American students and some Hispanic students and Native American students receive 20 points out of a maximum of 150, not because of any academic achievement or life experience, but solely because they are African-American, Hispanic or Native American.

To put this in perspective, a perfect SAT score is worth only 12 points in the Michigan system. Students who accumulate 100 points are generally admitted, so those 20 points awarded solely based on race are often the decisive factor.

At the law school, some minority students are admitted to meet percentage targets while other applicants with higher grades and better scores are passed over. This means that students are being selected or rejected based primarily on the color of their skin. The motivation for such an admissions policy may be very good, but its result is discrimination and that discrimination is wrong.

Some states are using innovative ways to diversify their student bodies. Recent history has proven that diversity can be achieved without using quotas. Systems in California and Florida and Texas have proven that by guaranteeing admissions to the top students from high schools throughout the state, including low income neighborhoods, colleges can attain broad racial diversity. In these states, race-neutral admissions policies have resulted in levels of minority attendance for incoming students that are close to, and in some instances slightly surpass, those under the old race-based approach.

We should not be satisfied with the current numbers of minorities on America's college campuses. Much progress has been made; much more is needed. University officials have the responsibility and the obligation to make a serious, effective effort to reach out to students from all walks of life, without falling back on unconstitutional quotas. Schools should seek diversity by considering a broad range of factors in admissions, including a student's potential and life experiences.

Our government must work to make college more affordable for students who come from economically disadvantaged homes. And because we're committed to racial justice, we must make sure that America's public schools offer a quality education to every child from every background, which is the central purpose of the education reforms I signed last year.

America's long experience with the segregation we have put behind us and the racial discrimination we still struggle to overcome requires a special effort to make real the promise of equal opportunity for all. My administration will continue to actively promote diversity and opportunity in every way that the law permits.

Thank you very much.

MUSIC TO MY EARS

....four inches of the white - again - and schools are closed. but right about now, all I can say is that Stan Getz is *the man* and Moby's journal is too damn funny. Nice guy. I'd like to know him one day.

be well. be love(d).

CALL ME SLOW

... but I just don't get it.

1a. North Korea has documented weapons of mass destruction.
1b. Iraq, thus far, has none.

2a. North Korea has a documented nuclear weapon.
2b. Iraq, thus far, has none.

3a. North Korea has kicked UN inspectors to the curb.
3b. Iraq, thus far, has not.

4a. North Korea has tested weapons over neighboring countries.
4b. Iraq, thus far, has not.

Why are we going to war with Iraq? Why aren't Americans in an outrage? Why is American media skating around the issue: "..the POSSIBLE war with Iraq.." Why isn't anyone worried about the problem in Venezuela? (especially the SUV owners).

Let's face it: now is a sad time to be an American. The Democrats are as flat and sad and pitiful as a day old pancake, Bush and his cronies, to their unfortunate credit do indeed have a solid, albeit warped and hypocritical plan and if the Demmie's don't get their behinds together we're in for a long two, possible six, more years with the Bushwhacker. I guess the Clinton era (God bless him!) left so many of us with more money than we know what to do with (you know, the days when stocks actually paid dividends) and complacency and mediorcity are at an all time high. All American media can come up with, night after night, is the build up of forces and the who-shot-john between jennifer lopez and ben affleck (sp?) and jennifer aniston and brad pitt. Hard core investigative journalism is gone. We're just a nation of comfy cozies with our emails and voicemails and blackberrys and palms and ipods and imacs and faxes and webcams and digital 3 pixels and mp3s and two car garages and lonely streets 'cos kids don't play outside anymore... no, no, not when there's the good ol' playstation to play with ...... we're just a nation of comfy cozies who get all our truth from the six o'clock news and if it's on the news, well, you know it's GOT TO BE TRUE.
Damn. I just don't get it. Where's my passport .......

be well. be love(d).