Dear Madam/Mr. President:

Diversity in higher education in the United States has been artificially increased for almost half a century. Affirmative Action laws were created in 1961 to ensure that college admission was not based on race, creed, color, or national origin but rather on academic and extracurricular factors. This seems completely fair, but these laws were changed quite a bit in the late 1960’s to become the most widespread example of institutionalized racism.

Affirmative action was implemented to prevent racism in college admissions. This is a great thing, but over time these laws have changed their purpose. Now, affirmative action laws are intending to give an advantage to minority groups who have been oppressed in history as a way to repay them, assuming the false claim that the past wickedness of whites around the globe has lead all other races to unsuccessful lives. This law requires that colleges enroll enough students that belong to a minority to meet government quotas, causing universities to prefer students because of their race, creed, and origin. For example, if two students have the same test scores, GPA, and extracurricular activities, college admission departments will prefer a candidate who is not white so they can meet the quota for the year. This is by definition discrimination based on race, creed, and origin. the very thing that was fought for in the civil war has been revitalized. We see this trend in scholarships as well. All you have to do is a web search on scholarships and you will find numerous with a prerequisite of “student of color.” Some people may say that these scholarships are necessary because white students receive a disproportionate 76% of merit-based scholarships, but this statistic is not disproportionate at all. According to the U.S. Census of 2010, 74% of the U.S. population is Caucasian.

I do understand that diversity in school and the workplace is an issue in this country, and any steps that can be taken should be. But, the solution that has been implemented does not solve the issue. We should be funding programs that support all people who are disadvantaged, not a policy that degrades Blacks, Hispanics, American Indians, etc.