Socialist talks on affirmative action

The debate about the use of affirmative action at the University continued last night as a self-described "angry white male" stressed the need for economic and social reform.

Rodney Ward, the national organizer for Solidarity, a socialist organization, defended the University's affirmative action policies to a group of about 15 students and community members.

"I'm angry because my economic prospects for the future look bleak," Ward said. "The average American is working long hours to make ends meet. I'm furious about the tax ... on women and people of color in the name of the white male."

While Ward generally supported the University's use of race as a factor in admissions, he criticized the policy for being too vague.

"What happens when affirmative action is abolished? You don't have many people of color at a school, and you're saying to the world that you don't think they deserve to be there."

Ward criticized the movement against affirmative action as being racist and separatist.

"If you think that women and people of color are human, then maybe you should start to worry. The attack against affirmative action doesn't believe that many people of color and Hispanics should be at this University."

Ward said there is a "paradox that if people of color and women fail, they lack merit, but if they succeed, it was because of affirmative action."

Several students attended the speech to learn more about affirmative action at the University.

"I'm here because I don't know where I stand on affirmative action," said LSA first-year student Alejandra Salinas. "I want to find out more information."

Ward said affirmative action is a narrowly focused response to the civil rights and feminist movements of the 1960s and it has not yet eradicated the problems it set out to reform.

"It has improved the racial make-up of the campus, but it hasn't improved the problem. Affirmative action allows those in the back of the line to move forward," he said.

Ward refuted many of the arguments against affirmative action, including statements that it is reverse discrimination and that it lowers self-esteem.

He said the self-esteem argument "acknowledges the fact that there are labels that stigmatize women and people of color."

"There continues to be preferential treatment for white men," Ward argued. "Colleges set aside spots for athletes and legacies."

Ward encouraged the audience to organize in support of affirmative action.

"We have to get out there and talk to people one-on-one. What happens at the grassroots level is extremely important," he said. "As an angry white man, I challenge other white men to be angry as well."

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