University of Texas conservatives hold anti-affirmative action bake sale
On Wednesday, students of the University of Texas chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) organization held a bake sale, but instead of helping charity or to raise school funds, they were hosting the sale to protest affirmative action.
The students said that they set up the bake sale prices based on race and gender in an effort “to illustrate this disastrous policy that demeans minorities on our campus by placing labels of race and gender on their accomplishments.”
“Our protest was designed to highlight the insanity of assigning our lives value based on our race and ethnicity, rather than our talents, work ethic, and intelligence,” YCT-UT Chair Vidal Castañeda stated. “It is insane that institutional racism, such as affirmative action, continues to allow for universities to judge me by the color of my skin rather than my actions.”
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https://twitter.com/L33_BUI/status/791344519908163584
According to the bake sale prices, Asian and white students pay the most for their education, while black, Hispanic and Native American students pay very little or even nothing for theirs.
The bake sale caused quite the stir with other students on campus. Protests against racism and bigotry popped up all around the school.
Some protesters were chanting “racists go home!” but none of that seemed to faze the bake sale organizers.
Many students began debating the need for affirmative action since the UT’s student body is made of primarily of whites.
Dr. Gregory J. Vincent, of the UT Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, released this official statement:
“On Wednesday, the UT chapter of Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) held a bake sale on the West Mall, where they sold goods to students at varying prices based on their race and gender. This is a repeat of a YCT bake sale held here on campus in September 2013. YCT joins a handful of student groups at other universities who over the years have used the same reductive tactic to garner the spotlight for their views on affirmative action.
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UT students yell "Racist go home" after young conservatives oppose affirmative action #texas #affirmativeaction pic.twitter.com/3RNJcJVAzI
— Brandon (@brandon_buckets) October 26, 2016
“Such methods are inflammatory and demeaning. Yet focusing our attention on the provocative nature of the YCT’s actions ignores a much more important issue: they create an environment of exclusion and disrespect among our students, faculty and staff. The West Mall is a place where free speech is exercised by all students, and rightly so, because it is meant to be an arena that inspires dialogue from diverse viewpoints. However, it is also meant to be a space where students exhibit respect for each other while holding those viewpoints. Although it is their right to do so, it is deplorable that a few students took advantage of this open forum to direct negative sentiment toward their peers.
“In seeking an audience for their ideas, the YCT resorted to exercising one of the university’s core values to the detriment of others. Such actions are counterproductive to true dialogue on our campus, and it is unrepresentative of the ideals toward which our community strives.”
