Men benefit widely from preference in admissions
To the Daily:
Dana Christensen’s viewpoint urging women to oppose the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative on the grounds that affirmative action increases women’s educational opportunities (A reflection on Women’s History Month, 03/27/2006) may leave readers with the impression that women are the only beneficiaries of gender-based preferences in college admissions, except in a few areas like nursing. In fact, many liberal arts colleges are open about the fact that they give strong preferences to male applicants in order to achieve balanced campuses. Last week, The New York Times printed an op-ed by Kenyon College’s dean of admissions in which she apologized to all the talented female applicants that the college rejected for this reason. “The reality is that because young men are rarer, they’re more valued applicants . the standards for admission to today’s most selective colleges are stiffer for women than men,” she wrote.
Whatever one’s position on gender-based affirmative action, failing to discuss this phenomenon provides an incomplete picture.
Julia Lipman
Rackham
MSA candidate apologizes for spam sent during election
To the Daily:
Last week, I irresponsibly sent a spam e-mail for my Michigan Student Assembly campaign to a list that contained not only thousands of student e-mail addresses, but those of faculty, staff and alumni as well. Due to the way I sent this e-mail, I inadvertently caused many mailboxes to flood with additional messages replying to my original spam – causing many people to have difficulties reading their e-mail and additionally requiring intervention by Information Technology Central Services.
What I did was completely inappropriate and damaged the good reputation of both MSA and the student body as a whole. Additionally, I recognize the degree to which I interfered with University business and caused unnecessary work for support personnel on this campus. I am ashamed to have done this, and I promise to never again send such an e-mail.
I accept full responsibility for my actions – what I did is completely my own fault and not that of MSA or any other group. I plan to make restitution in any way possible and work together with MSA and ITCS to ensure that students, faculty, staff and alumni never again face a barrage of spam as they did during this election.
Tim Hull
LSA junior
The letter writer was a candidate for MSA representative with the Student Conservative Party.