US Politics Mega-thread - Page 1990

On May 21 2015 08:16 GreenHorizons wrote:


Meaning what exactly? Link please?

On May 21 2015 08:20 wei2coolman wrote:

Meaning that it's pretty hilarious that school is paying specifically for an additional graduation just for black graduates. Now I don't actually think it's "racist", but it's been a talking point among a lot of the other graduates about how silly and pandering it is to have an additional separate graduation specifically for a race for "graduating" college. As if somehow if you're black and graduating college, you need an additional slap on the back with this another self congratulatory event.

On May 21 2015 08:23 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:


That sounds messed up, but I'd need to see the academic calendar or college website explaining these events. I could see there being additional graduation ceremonies for specific schools (business, engineering, education, etc.) and maybe informal after-parties for certain fraternities or clubs (that aren't mandated by the university), but I'm initially skeptical of your statement. Source please?

On May 21 2015 08:24 Sbrubbles wrote:


You mean the graduation cerimony is done separately for blacks and whites (or, rather, black students can opt for a black-only graduation cerimony)?

Nebraska lawmakers gave final approval on Wednesday to a bill abolishing the death penalty, with enough votes to override a promised veto from Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts.

The vote was 32 to 15 in Nebraska's unicameral legislature.

If that vote holds in a veto override, Nebraska will be the first conservative state to repeal the death penalty since North Dakota in 1973.

The Nebraska vote is notable in the national debate over capital punishment because it was bolstered by conservatives who oppose the death penalty for religious reasons and say it is a waste of taxpayer money.

Nebraska hasn't executed a prisoner since 1997, and some lawmakers have argued that constant legal challenges will prevent the state from doing so again.

Ricketts announced last week that the state had purchased new lethal injection drugs to resume executions.

The governor, who is serving his first year in office, argued in his weekly column Tuesday that the state's inability to carry out executions was a "management problem" that he is committed to fixing.

On May 21 2015 08:57 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
The governor, who is serving his first year in office, argued in his weekly column Tuesday that the state's inability to carry out executions was a "management problem" that he is committed to fixing.

On May 21 2015 07:27 Slaughter wrote:


Why? If you reformed high school education so it was a lot better for all students and not just those in richer areas then students would be better prepared. it wouldn't have anything to do with race? Unless you are subscribing to the idea that certain races aren't good at academics, which is ridiculous.

On May 21 2015 09:05 cLutZ wrote:

People may disagree, but I think if you imposed higher graduation requirements in high school it would widen any already existing racial disparities in graduation rates, then whoever implemented that system would be called a racist. It's not that certain races can't be good (the actual racist position) it's that they currently aren't good at academics (as a group, no exceptions as "rebuttal" please).

Many people consider race blind admittance in California racist, now just imagine the UC SD admittance standards being the high school graduation standards, I imagine this would be a bloodbath.

If you would like to participate in this year’s Black Graduation ceremony... Keep in mind, you must have 150 credits completed by the end of winter quarter in order to participate. The application and $60 participation fee are due on April 1, 2015

it's been a talking point among a lot of the other graduates about how silly and pandering it is to have an additional separate graduation specifically for a race for "graduating" college. As if somehow if you're black and graduating college, you need an additional slap on the back with another self congratulatory event, especially one that's paid for by the college.

On May 21 2015 09:32 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:


Exactly. Affirmative action is a lazy answer to the problem of the education gap (which is technically based on socioeconomic status and not race anyway, although there is a relatively high correlation between low socioeconomic status and minorities). If we can fix up the poor schools and their surrounding environments so that they can have competitive programs and good infrastructure, then affirmative action would be irrelevant anyway. The proper solution is to start at the bottom, rather than letting in minority students *just because they're minorities* who are more likely to flunk out anyway because they're not as prepared as the students whose seats they took.

That being said, I don't think universities are generally allowed to explicitly use race quotas for admissions (although I'm sure many privately do so they can boast diversity), and it's also the case that whites don't suffer nearly as much as Asians do in the affirmative action conversation.

On May 21 2015 09:34 wei2coolman wrote:

UC abolished the practice of Affirmative Action 15 years ago, so it's still somewhat recent phenomenon. I'm pretty sure it still happens in a lot of public universities as well.

while i'll say Affirmative Action sucks balls, the bolded part is less likely to happen that you'd suspect. While they may take a black student with lower qualifications than an asian student, it's pretty rare (outside of obvious athletic scholarship studnets), for that black student to be "unqualified". Generally speaking they're still smart enough to graduate.

In 2008, they accounted for 40 percent at UCLA and 43 percent at UC Berkeley — the two most selective campuses in the UC system — as well as 50 percent at UC San Diego and 54 percent at UC Irvine. Asian-Americans are about 12 percent of California's population and 4 percent of the U.S. population overall

A group of more than 60 organizations has filed a complaint with the federal government claiming Harvard holds higher expectations for its Asian applicants than other minorities.

The coalition is made up of nonprofit organizations, including Chinese, Pakistani and Indian groups, and it claims Harvard uses racial quotas to control the number of Asian-Americans on campus.

On May 21 2015 09:51 wei2coolman wrote:
TBF to Harvard, they're a top notch school that consistently pumps out some of the most successful graduates.