Columbia right to act on ‘whites only’ scholarships

But halt preference to minorities, too

Ten years ago, I won a case at the U.S. Supreme Court against Lee Bollinger and the University of Michigan for racial discrimination in their admissions policies. Today, Bollinger is president at Columbia University and is dealing with a new discrimination matter.

Columbia grabbed some headlines this month with the discovery that it has a “whites only” scholarship fund. The Lydia C. Roberts Graduate Fellowship was left to the university in 1920 by a wealthy divorcee days before her death and stipulates it is to be given only to “a person of the Caucasian race” (along with a list of other limitations). This race restriction can be lifted only with a court order, and that’s exactly what Columbia is trying to obtain.

I fully support the university’s efforts to end preferential treatment based on race. It is wrong for schools and employers and especially public institutions to discriminate on the basis of skin color.

REVERSE DISCRIMINATION?

In light of the university’s strong stance against discrimination, perhaps it’s time to end scholarships and preferential admissions treatment for minority students as well.

For example, Columbia offers the Sylvia L. Wilson Memorial Scholarship “for an African-American woman specializing in print journalism.” Then there’s the African-American Alumni Scholarship through the School of Business. Columbia’s website even provides a list of outside scholarships specifically for “students of color.”

Here we have the same preferential scholarships, just with different races. Sadly, Columbia is interested in ending only politically incorrect kinds of discrimination.

Many have expressed shock to encounter such a blatant example of discrimination nearly 50 years after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Unfortunately, the same policies of discrimination are all around us.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

Every day, “race-conscious” decisions are being made, particularly in public education and employment throughout the country. Unfortunately, it’s considered neither shocking nor controversial. Granting preferential treatment for certain minorities has been deemed necessary and politically correct in the service of principles such as “diversity” and “making up for past wrongs.”

In a column published in 2003, Bollinger reflected on U.S. history and marveled at the “ebbing and flowing of our commitments to dealing with the injustices — and potential richness — of racial differences.” He noted that the nation has labored mightily to atone for these injustices.

The problem is that two wrongs don’t make a right, and our well-intentioned efforts have created new injustices with new victims. If judging people based on the color of their skin is wrong — and I believe it is — then it is wrong in all situations, regardless of good intentions. Treating people differently to make up for real or perceived inequalities only reinforces inequality and deepens racial division.

Columbia University is taking an important step in the right direction, but it’s time to go all the way. The only true path to a colorblind society is to treat people equally without regard to race.

This was the essence of the civil rights movement, and it’s something that belongs to all people.