Report: Affirmative Action May Harm Law Students

Bishop Accused in Beating Blames Satan

I've been silent on this mind boggling saga with Juanita and her husband, Bishop Weeks until this trite reasoning for why he gave his wife a beating; the devil made him do it. I didn't know Weeks' name has been changed to Flip Wilson.

How in the world does he not take full responsibility for allegedly assaulting his wife? What example is he showing to thousands of his parishioners? Blame someone else or a creature for taking over your faculties. How about Weeks start like this: "I'm terribly sorry, I was stupid and I'm seeking help to change my attitude that doesn't reflect an example of a servant of Christ." Now that could be a start.

Sent by Moji | 1:05 PM | 8-28-2007

The premise, "Admitting students into law schools for which they might not academically be prepared could harm their academic performance.", is true for all races. But the study assumes that you can measure a students preparation by the colleges admissions requirement, and we all know that not necessarily true. I graduated with people who had high GPA's, great exam scores, and wonderful essays, that still flunked out of school. Some of them did not study well, others were not disciplined, all of them were not prepared even though the admission process told them otherwise. I would not put too much credence into this study.
m-solo.com

Sent by Markus | 2:41 PM | 8-28-2007

Affirmative Action

I have mixed feelings about this report. On one hand, I stand for affirmative action in giving an equal playing field to minorities. On the other hand, I want to be judged by my merit.

However, I feel that some of the theories on the report might be unfounded. For example, "Race-based admissions have been found to harm minority law students by setting them up for failure." In what world? How are the students been set up for failure? The report didn't give an answer.

Also, I find it offensive that the report will state there is an "academic mismatch" to minority students applicants. This last statement is why I still believe in affirmative action. If the law mandates school officials to admit a quota of diverse students, then there is no preconceived notion of people who are not justified to be in the schools. Afterwards, the school officials could have an actual statiscal study of the ratio of non-minority to minority students graduating with honors or flunking out. Only then would this report be factual.

Sent by Moji | 3:51 PM | 8-28-2007

Affirmative Action is still needed in the Educational process. Admitting students that are not academically prepared of any race is a problem. Race and Academics should be a factor in the admittance process. Admit only minorities students that are qualified. Affirmative Action will fail if you admit students based on race only, especially in Law and in Medical school.

Sent by Sandra | 9:01 PM | 8-28-2007

Question the source and the motive...
http://www.usccr.gov/

I have never seen more black republicans appointed by GWB on one web page.

Sent by BC | 12:37 AM | 8-29-2007

It's nonsense. Forgive me for just dropping a link; I don't know that your comments would hold the whole post.

http://www.prometheus6.org/node/17801

Sent by P6 | 9:03 AM | 8-29-2007

I would like to see this report. I find it hard to believe that it could be founded on empirical data which supports the wild, polemic and irresponsible conclusions summarized in the Press Release.
Nevertheless given the success of attacks on AA over the past 8 years, the language and tone are a bit of an anachronistic in that there is very little if any of the complained of `stretching minimum standards to admit minorities and or women` going on anywhere nowadays-assuming it ever did!
Is this Press Release what passes for a Civil Rights Policy Statement nowadays? If so, it condemns itself and is worthy of no further comment. What an insult.

Sent by James from Miami | 1:55 AM | 8-30-2007

I heard the gentleman with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund express his views. What I couldn't hear clearly is what specifically is being done to ensure minorities do get in law schools and succeed while there. I felt he was scratching the surface by stating actions need to be taken to ensure success, but what EXACTLY? What SPECIFICALLY is being done...is what I was anticipating to hear, but didn't.

In addition, this report needs more investigation. The research sounds incomplete and should't be reported until it is further investigated. It misleads the public and happens to negatively impact public opinion.

Sent by Rahwa Neguse | 3:34 PM | 8-30-2007

This report, or at least the speaker on your show, looks as if it is an attempt to push propaganda and seems a bit silly.

You rarely hear an official report filled "some data" as the backbone of the research. I am pretty sure that a thorough investigation of the report would show that many of the headlines and sound bits taken from the report would be unfounded.

I am a lawyer and know that all types of races decide to not finish law school after the first year. It happens. Your guest, however, did not compare the dropout rates of students of color with that of other racial groups.

Lastly, the fact that someone may fail in professional school, in general, is not a good reason not to go, which seems to be ultimate message of the report. While there are many things that could "hurt" students of color, I am sure that somewhere there is "some data" that suggests that this is not one of them.

Sent by E L from D.C. | 5:11 PM | 8-30-2007

Here we go again, another excuse to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Like the world needs more lawyers anyway!

Sent by Carroll Hopkins II | 8:07 PM | 8-30-2007

affirmative action

I am a white man and I am being terribly discriminated against. One of the highest paid professions in this country is that of the professional athlete. Professional basketball, and football both are extremely segregated and have far to few white players. Now the resolution to this problem is simple. We must open up 50% of the positions on all national and college teams to white players regardless of ability. Now I know I can't run as fast as the next man, that's just the price we have to pay for equality. Think about it, if we lower the standard for white players in the NBA that would not just touch one team but all of them so in the end height and ability would drop across the board. The quality of game play overall will be reduced so in the end it's still a fair game. Now because I haven't spent a lot of time playing football and I don't have much natural ability, of course I will expect special programs to help me and my fellow white players achieve better success in professional sports. All of you will share the bill for this out of your taxes so it won't cost any one person or organization too much.
Sound stupid? Sound racist? Sound familiar??? We can not hope to have racial equality until we do away with antiquated ideas like affirmative action and begin to judge each individual on his or her own merits. The worst and most prevalent racism left in America is Reverse Racism.

Sent by Douglas Middle | 10:50 PM | 8-30-2007

Douglas:

As a huge basketball fan, I find it confounding that you'll talk about "Reverse Racism" in the NBA. The last I checked, white players have won the MVP award for the last three consecutive years in Steve Nash twice and Dirk Nowinsky. You never heard anyone complaining they didn't deserve it, even a hit song did a shout out to Nash as MVP.

Also, let's not forget that the color barrier in the NBA was broken just over forty years with Celtics Legend Bill Russell. Before that, it was mostly known as a "white man sport."

Speaking of white players, let's not forget Hall of Famer Larry Bird who defied any misconception of the "white man can't jump" theory and one of the noted 50 greatest players of all time. How about future Hall of Famer John Stockton, who showed the prowess of being a true point guard. From what I've read, he's served as a mentor to up and coming and established black point guards in the league.

So for the NBA of today, though we may not see the flare athleticism of the slam dunks in white players. We have those who have the fundamental skills in them for shooting. I present to you the current All-Star reigning champion of the three-pointer in the now former (I can't believe he's gone from my favorite team) Miami Heat Jason Kapono, who led the league with a 50 percent three-point field goal percentage. Now is that skills or what? I can go on but I think you got the point.

Sent by Moji | 10:12 AM | 8-31-2007

Why not go back and investigate the reason for AA in the first place. If AA is to be discontinued, then why can't America first concentrate on and discontiue the cause, racism?

Sent by Caswell Bridges | 12:20 PM | 8-31-2007