Bake sale takes aim at A&M's diversity official
Gee, what an original idea. A bake sale where a person is charged different prices depending on their ethnicity? Whodathunkit? You know, it was a tired, trite, and offensive idea when a Conservative student group tried it at SMU a few months ago, and it certainly isn't any less so now.
COLLEGE STATION -- A conservative student group plans to hold a controversial "affirmative action" bake sale where cookie prices will be based on a buyer's gender and race to protest today's arrival of a new diversity leader at Texas A&M University.
At the sale, white males must pay $1 for a cookie while the same kind of cookie will be sold to white females for 75 cents, to Hispanics for 50 cents and to African-Americans for 25 cents.
Matthew Maddox, chairman of the Young Conservatives of Texas A&M, said the bake sale is being held to protest the creation of the new position of vice president of institutional assessment and diversity at A&M in College Station.
James A. Anderson, the former vice provost for undergraduate affairs at North Carolina State University, will assume the new post today.
Maddox, a senior from Houston, said his group is echoing the concerns of many on campus about the functions of the new vice president. He said he and others have repeatedly asked administrators to explain what the job will entail.
Young Conservatives of Texas have used the strategy before to protest the use of race and gender in college admissions. Southern Methodist University made national news Sept. 24 when it shut down a bake sale after an African-American student complained about it.
The group also held a similar bake sale at Texas A&M at the beginning of this semester. A&M officials took no action then, and officials said they do not anticipate acting against the sale planned today.
"This is a freedom of speech and freedom of expression issue, and the university obviously honors those provisions of the Constitution," Bill Kibler, interim vice president for student affairs, said in a prepared statement.
"Thus, no action is planned regarding the activity proposed by this particular group, provided it does not interfere with any ongoing university activities or violate any university rules or regulation."
No, ignoring it is probably the best strategy. Otherwise, you'll only encourage people who clearly have WAY too much time on their hands already. Come on, folks, it's not as if Conservatives don't already have a stranglehold on A&M. If there is a more conservative campus out there, I'm certainly not aware of it. A Democrat at A&M stands out like a stripper at an Avon convention.
Before you get yourselves all heated up over the whole idea of diversity, you might try it out first. Who knows, you might actually discover that it's a good thing....
