There is something that has really been picking at me for about four or five months, since I started applying to colleges and looking into the application criteria. One thing that I was really surprised to see on all of the applications I filled out was the optional field of “racial background.”

Now in an attempt to silence any of you that might think that I am a racist person or something along those lines, I will clarify one thing right now. I am not, nor have I ever been, a racist person. And unless something changes in the future, I will never be racist.

For those who are not familiar with the idea of racial discrimination here is the definition from dictionary.com “The unfair treatment of members of majority groups resulting from preferential policies, as in college admissions or employment, intended to remedy earlier discrimination against minorities.”

Practically every college in America has to comply with what is called a “racial quota,” or certain amount of persons of different racial backgrounds to comply with affirmative action laws. If these quotas are not met, the educational institution may be investigated for racial discrimination, and in most cases, they can be sued for discrimination. One such case made it into the Supreme Court of the United States in 1974.

The case, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, was first brought to the Superior Court of California and the ruling came down in favor of Bakke 8-1. The university then appealed to the US Supreme Court and Bakke won with a 5-4 decision. The University was using a one admissions system for whites and another for other ethnic groups.

Bakke was discriminated because he had scored better on his MCATS and had a better GPA than some of the other students that were admitted though the minority admissions system. His MCAT scores were a good 50 points above those of the students that were admitted above him. He had applied three times before the court case, and did attempt to settle this case outside of the courts in a simple agreement with the University as stated in an article from findlaw.com

The different admission systems were ruled unconstitutional with the decision, and the University had to halt the use of these systems. The decision was announced by Justice Lewis Powell who stated that race could be one of many factors used by discriminatory boards, like those of college admissions. Powell found that quotas protected minority applicants from competition with the regular applicants and were thus unconstitutional because they discriminated against regular applicants, thus showing discrimination against the majority. Now to me, that is one of the best examples of reverse discrimination around. My theory is if it gets to the US Supreme Court, then it is a problem in the Nation.

Powell did state that universities could use race as a “plus factor,” or something that could help determine applicants’ acceptance into a university. Powell cited the Harvard College Admissions Program constitutionally valid affirmative action program that took into account all of an applicant’s qualities in a view where everything, including race, are taken into account.

A more recent case of reverse discrimination was just put to the US Supreme Court in 2003. Grutter v. Bollinger (University of Michigan), ruled that discriminating against the majority is entirely with the legal parameters of the university.

The University Admissions was within the parameters of the original Bakke decision because the admissions program was one in the same for both majorities and minorities .

The case was fighting the system that is in place for the admissions of minority students. If a student declares themselves as minority, they are guaranteed 20 points out of the 100 needed to guarantee admission into the University.

The case was decided in favor of the university because it was in compliance with the original Bakke ruling 30 years ago.

It is ridiculous that people who might not be as smart as me, who could be less involved than me, and most of all, people that are receiving more money than I am from the Federal Government because they are a minority are getting better treatment than I am.

These people are starting to take advantage of the fact that they are the “poor minority.” These people can sue for just about anything and claim that they are being discriminated against because they are the minority and people are out to get them.

I was told by two of my senior teachers in high school not to put my race on anything, from a college application, to an application for a job. Almost everything in this world has a racial quota to comply with.

In this world almost anything is possible, you can sue for some of the dumbest things, but sometimes a seemingly pointless suit can bring about incredible change in the system.

Send comments to Andrew Herman at [email protected].