Affirmative action for dudes

The Daily Illini
Opinions Blog
Jordan Harp Opinions blogger and columnist Contact me
November 9th, 2009 - 10:04 PM

If there is ever an example of a foot in mouth moment for progressive policies, it became evident last week.
Last week, the Chronicle on Higher Education reported that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights had begun examining whether colleges were discriminating against women in admissions decisions. The investigation, “FY 2010 Project on Sex Discrimination in Higher Education Admissions,” aims to determine if co-ed institutions are giving undue preference to male applicants in order to avoid having a gender imbalance on their campuses.
The irony here would be painful were it not so amusing. Affirmative action has enjoyed near universal support among feminist groups, in part because of their belief that preferences help women in getting admitted to college. Four years ago Michigan feminist organizations were unanimous in their opposition to the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, which would have eliminated admissions preferences on the basis of race or sex. But now the policy that they so vehemently support is hurting those that they claim to represent.
Anyone who has been to high school knows that when it comes to academics, boys do in fact drool a bit. Valedictorians today are overwhelmingly female. High school dropout rates nationwide are much higher for men than they are for women. And for those who do graduate, women are more likely to go to college and get accepted to college, and then once they actually get to college, women are more likely to graduate.
This has led to some demographic problems at some universities. The article in the Chronicle mentions the University of Rochester. Although admissions percentages were relatively equal for men and women there in the last cycle, just three years ago the acceptance rate for men was 54 percent, while for women it was just 41 percent, both from higher numbers of and stronger female applicants.

Full Blog Post: http://www.dailyillini.com/blogs/different-perspectives/2009/11/09/affirmative-action-for-dudes