Affirmative action a solution?

LOGAN — Utah State University students both for and against affirmative action finally squared off Monday in an organized debate.

College Republicans state chairman Tom Robins said school choice through use of vouchers, not affirmative action, is the "real" solution for minorities to be better educated and more prepared for post-secondary education.

Arab-American Jamal Jaber gave an impassioned speech about advantages he says whites have over minorities in education and the work force.

"Minorities are not receiving equal access to education," Jaber said. "Affirmative action is our only tool that may be utilized to balance the scales of discrimination."

About 700 students listened — some were allowed to respond — to three students and three professors who formed a panel for Monday's planned event.

"This is what should take place at universities," said debate moderator and USU vice president over student services Juan N. Franco.

The debate was sparked by a bake sale last month that angered minority students on campus.

At the sale, put on by the USU College Republicans, whites were charged $2 for a cookie while minorities were expected to pay less for the same cookie. The cookie was cheapest, 25 cents, for African-American females.

The intent of the bake sales at USU and other college campuses across the country last year was for College Republicans to show how affirmative action is unfair.

At USU, however, some minority students felt they were the targets of ridicule, which led to arguments at the sale and eventually to the debate at the Taggart Student Center.

"Over the past 30 to 40 years, affirmative action has changed course," said Jared Westbroek, one of the bake sale's organizers. "It is no longer the race-neutral policy that started out."

Affirmative action is a term that surfaced during the presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Both presidents had roles in establishing efforts to end discrimination by the government and its contractors based on race, creed, color, gender and national origin.

"It is now," Westbroek added, "a race-preferential treatment program that is designed to . . . give certain bonus points, certain extra qualifications to minority individuals that are applying to college, based primarily on their skin color."