Comments on: Do elite colleges and universities discriminate against Mormons?

By: Phill

Phill — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:58:45 +0000

Interesting, LDS students back in Florida enjoy a good reputation in the schools and seem to be favored. That has been my experience and the experience of many going to UM, Nova South estern and the likes.

By: Phill

Phill — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:54:11 +0000

Well, not if you are a Latino/Asian Mormon though right ?

By: Agellius

Agellius — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:39:09 +0000

Bruce:

You favor taking action against global warming, you favor affirmative action, you voted for Obama (if I’m remembering right) — In what sense precisely are you a conservative? : )

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:24:53 +0000

This is a very small sample, but after my son returned from his mission (which was stated in his resume) he applied to graduate schools in a type of program where competition is stiff. He got interviews for two extremely competitive programs in the Midwest and East (and was accepted at one), yet heard nothing from less competitive programs in the West. There’s no way of knowing, but my theory is that his LDS background was a negative factor in those areas were Mormons are more well-known.

He was accepted at one of those programs and through his branch found quite a community of LDS grad students. Since the state has a small LDS population, it’s possible that LDS students are even slightly overrepresented in grad programs.

By: KLC

KLC — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:00:28 +0000

At least colleges have some sort of logic, flawed or not, about the process. Not even logic prevails when diversity becomes a mantra in corporations, numbers are all that matter. My wife worked at a major southern California defense contractor. She knew an engineer named Joe Ca-RILL-0. Joe’s paternal grandfather had left Spain about 60 years before. Joe grew up in South Dakota, just another anonymous caucasian. But when his employer committed itself to diversity he became Joe Ca-REE-yo, latino engineer. He was promoted, he was groomed, and of course he was a total fake. He knew that, everyone else knew that, but it was good for his career and it was good for the company’s image.

By: Stephen M (Ethesis)

Stephen M (Ethesis) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:05:07 +0000

I should note, of course, try being Greek. Planned Parenthood favored a eugenics program to sterilize all the Greeks. In colleges and graduate schools they have a lower per capita representation than Blacks. They’ve elected fewer presidents, and they are on the negative side of every affirmative action program.

By: Stephen M (Ethesis)

Stephen M (Ethesis) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:59:59 +0000

middle class whites — especially whites from rural backgrounds — are discriminated against — that has always been the case, though. Why should anyone be surprised that social class discrimination still exists — especially at schools that exist to relish in social class issues? Graduate schools, especially professional schools, do the same, except their class markers are GPA and standardized test scores

I don’t think it is surprising.

I had a friend who was admitted on an affirmative action admit, and then was tossed back out when he failed to provide enough flavor. He was there to provide flavor and color notes for the paying students, just like good wallpaper.

Unfortunately, too much of what is going on is about style points rather than accomplishing anything good. Which is sad, really.

There is a lot of good that can be done, could be done, should be done.

By: Bruce Nielson

Bruce Nielson — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:57:57 +0000

Interesting post, Geoff. I am barely in the ‘in favor’ camp for affirmative action, but stuff like this still worries me. I get Andrew S’ point that it’s about ‘representation’ and that makes sense to me. I would love to try to define ‘representation’ however.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:35:15 +0000

Jeremy,
Your experience sounds a lot like mine. Not admitted to BYU or U of U (more because of a mediocre GPA and the fact that I applied after most of their spots had been filled than anything else); but it’s all for the best, because Utah’s over-saturated with lawyers from decent law schools, whereas my current area is not, and so I have more opportunities here. I’ve also done well enough (at a pretty good law school) that I considered trying to transfer to BYU or U of U after my first year–but then realized I’m happier here, despite being so far from family. My wife struggles with the distance from family, and I’m not sure whether we’ll be able to make it back West, at least for a while; that’s the only real downside. And quite frankly, the rebellious part of me enjoys being in a place where I’m a religious minority.

By: Andrew S.

Andrew S. — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:16:42 +0000

Geoff,

That’s why I began my first comment to the thread with “Whether one agree or disagree” (although now I wonder whether the subjunctive mood was appropriate there…)…we can agree or disagree whether affirmative action policies are acceptable or laudable, but that affirmative action and diversity policies are primarily geared at underrepresented ethnic groups (and/or gender) shouldn’t be too surprising. This is not to the separation of points 2 and 1 {although if we have to argue 1, then this is problematic, because there are studies that show that increased diversity is discomforting…so someone could easily argue that having shared values, goals, beliefs, creates a better college experience, even if it leads to insularity}, but is in conjunction with it.

There are different programs for different kinds of disadvantaged persons. For example, some people say that affirmative action and diversity movements fail to help the disadvantaged because they don’t primarily focus on socioeconomic disadvantage. Well, that’s fair and good, but these programs weren’t *originated* to focus on socioeconomic disadvantage alone. To the extent that they focus on socioeconomic disadvantages, it is through underrepresentation in some other area.