Timeline by Wyatt Sylvester

smmunoz1 — 2025-04-27 19:46:35 UTC

Racial justice or genuine diversity? In this link, the video showcases how affirmative action has had an uncomfortable consequence of making it harder for certain minorities to enter college, but still hasn't had much of an effect on white students getting into college. It zones in on how Medical School, the conditions for medical school should be different. It expands on what might ACTUALLY be causing some students to not make it into these big schools.

Discussion Questions

paigev5 — 2025-04-27 22:17:44 UTC

According to Jodi Melamed, how has the idea of "diversity" been used to support unfair systems like capitalism instead of fighting against them? Do you think diversity programs today actually help create fairness, or do they mostly protect the system the way it is?
What is the difference between "diversity" and "difference," and how can thinking about "difference" help challenge the way big institutions use diversity for their own benefit? How could schools, businesses, or governments do a better job of focusing on real change instead of just promoting "diversity"?

2025-04-27 23:34:22 UTC

Covering another topic that was touched on in this week's readings/videos. Legacy admissions are another hot topic for unjust admission systems. While technically a colorblind process, legacy admissions has served primarily to keep wealthy families, predominantly white ones, to be able to consistently apply and be admitted to prestigious schools such as Harvard and Yale. The video argues for the fact that while many conservatives are actively fighting against doctrines like affirmative action, if they truly cared about fair admissions processes, they should be going after legacy admissions first. Only proving that behind every just cause, there is often times an ulterior motive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdQW5408DiE&t=289s

2025-04-27 23:40:01 UTC

The following video goes more into depth regarding the court case that was mentioned in the article. The case explains how diversity improves education, and how having a diverse student body helps students think better, prepare them for a diverse workforce, and enriches learning, However, the Court also emphasized that diversity initiatives cannot be justified as means of remedying historical discrimination.

wsylve — 2025-04-27 23:51:33 UTC

The article above goes into more detail about the link between capitalisms and racism. The author argues that Capitalism is fueled on inequality, while racism is a source of inequality. Because of this, capitalism is often the cause of racist ideals. For example, when white plantation owners needed workers for their fields (capitalism), they rationalized ways to capture slaves to do the work for them (racism).

The shifting definition of diversity

vikrantv — 2025-04-28 01:18:34 UTC

This article discusses how the term "diversity" has evolved over time. It also discusses the difference between diversity and affirmative action, claiming that diversity is often used strategically for the sake of power enhancement.

Why Company Diversity Programs Fail

vikrantv — 2025-04-28 01:31:51 UTC

This article discusses why diversity programs at the corporate level tend to fail despite constant attention and training. Melamed discusses in the reading for this week that companies use diversity to their advantage to make money.

This article talks about corporate diversity training being ineffective and sometimes feeling threatening in the sense of "say the right thing or the company will get sued".

wsylve — 2025-04-28 05:30:52 UTC

The image above depicts two working class people (One black and one white) walking into a fire labeled "Capitalism" and "Racism". They are holding briefcases labeled "Fear". The two characters are talking about how they shouldn't willingly walk into the fire. Instead, they should convert to a system of equality instead of fueling the capitalist fire. This likely symbolizes the fact that the only reason that racism/capitalism exists is because people are willing to jump into the fire and are too afraid to do anything about it.

nabihaarebete — 2025-04-28 05:55:11 UTC

This video talks about the Supreme Court ending affirmative action in college admissions last year, meaning that race can no longer be a factor in the selection process. In a 6-3 decision that addressed cases involving Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the Court found that these practices went against the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The video further goes into how this ruling sparked mixed reactions, with Republicans praising the focus on skills while Democrats showed concern about the potential negative impact on college diversity. Biden criticized the ruling and urged the Department of Education to explore other ways to promote diversity.

moc5_ — 2025-04-28 18:30:26 UTC

This article by PBS goes further in depth into the ongoing issue with legacy admissions. This article provides a multitude of statistics, all of which point towards just how unfair collage admissions can be. This article only proves to further advance the points made by other articles on the topic. Pointing out how much more legacy admissions actually tip the scale compared to affirmative action. Some schools such as Harvard for example, are almost 4 times more likely to admit student's that are decedents of alumni.