Harvard Shouldn't Placate Minorities

Joshua A. Kaufman '98, in an editorial dated February 13, 1997, gifted us with his profound thoughts on the motivations and character of the opponents of the multicultural center. It was not a surprise to find that his column quickly degenerated into a series of mind-numbingly repetitive attacks against his favorite target, Peninsula "hacks." Substituting insults for arguments, Kaufman painted a bleak picture of a WASP establishment seeking to oppress the evernoble minority hordes.

Kaufman's jihad, however, does not target imitation Republican William D. Zerhouni '97-'98 and his imaginary Republican club. Apparently, authentic conservatives, like John Applebaum '97, give Josh the willies!

Perhaps the single most ludicrous statement in Kaufman's piece, though, was his claim that life "on this campus" for minority students, in particular blacks, is "not always such a pleasant experience." What twaddle! Show me Harvard's segregated lunch counters. Show me the poor ghetto youths with 1600s on their SAT's who are kept out of here. Show me the Harvard chapter of the KKK.

Kaufman and his cadre must face the reality that Harvard's affirmative action policies keep qualified white students out of this institution. In their rush to placate whiny minority groups, the administration created an entire department dedicated to the study of "black history" and spent countless dollars luring away popular black professors from other institutions in order to show that they "care."

If Harvard truly was committed to diversity, it would find room at the Crimson Inn for black conservative professors in order to provide a counterpoint to the Marxist nonsense preached by Cornel West and his acolytes. Instead, Harvard, along with Newt Gingrich, has bought into the fallacy that Jesse Jackson and his elk represent black America.

I congratulate Applebaum for his forthright defense of righteousness in the face of all that is evil at Harvard. The true "hack" in this debate is Mr. Kaufman. --Christopher M. Griffith '97