Gaining acceptance into college as a star athlete requires hard work, diligence, self-sacrifice, and a desire to succeed. That is no different to walking in courtesy of affirmative action policies that focus on sex and race, former first lady Michelle Obama argued Wednesday.
Mrs Obama made her claim of DEI equivalence during an episode of her “IMO” podcast where comedian Josh Johnson spoke about his own experience of sometimes being “the only black person in the room.”
The NY Post notes Johnson said, “It is funny because, like, you know, people talk about, like, DEI and some of these initiatives and everything. And the thing that’s always funny to me about the outrage is that y’all already have the number.”
He argued that out of 100 people, eight to 10 might be set aside for minorities or women, and then those positions are a source of dispute.
The comedian went on to posit that, for many people, their belief is they would not have gotten in if it wasn’t for DEI measures, the NY Post report continues, even as push back continues against such discrimination based on race and sex.
“When it was just like 100 white slots, there was like the 101st white guy who couldn’t get in,” Johnson said.
“So, it’s like, ‘You might not be able to beat other white people.’”
“And they probably won’t let you because they will keep changing the rules to keep being at the top,” Mrs. Obama responded.
She then continued with her own life story, saying “My first realization of that came when I went to Princeton, right? Because I got, you know, applied, but my counselor said, ‘I don’t know if you’re Princeton material.’ Even though my brother was there, even though I was a top student, it was, like, so it set up this notion that this place is something really special.”
The former first lady suggested while one might be insecure about benefiting from affirmative action, getting into college for being an athlete is basically the same thing.
“And, so, I got in, and I go, and I’m thinking — you’re going with the insecurity that I only I got here because I was one of ‘the eight,’” she said.
“But then I looked around, and I saw all kinds of ‘affirmative action’ that never got discussed, you know.
“Being the kid of an alum, being an athlete, being a, you know, and you realize that why are we only drilling down on these eight black kids that got in, just like you said, when all these other kids got in all kinds of ways that could be considered affirmative action.”
As Breitbart News reported, President Donald Trump begs to differ. He is a firm believer in college admissions based on merit – and nothing else.
To that end he is working at stopping race-based admissions policies once and for all by ordering colleges and universities that receive federal funds to provide expansive data about how they accept applicants.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) will now collect admissions data from colleges and universities to ensure all entries are based purely on merit.
The Department of Education said institutions of higher education must report data “disaggregated by race and sex relating to their applicant pool, admitted cohort, and enrolled cohort at the undergraduate level and for specific graduate and professional programs.”
The data will include information about applicants’ and admitted students academic achievements, such as standardized test scores and GPAs.
Last year investigations were opened into 45 universities over alleged race-based preferences and policies.
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