<p>The statements made in the article about middlebury were not true. The chronicle later apologized.</p>
<p>IMO, Affirmative action for races and especially sexual orientation is just plain retarded. They should only go by the persons situation, as a rich black kid is coming from a better background than a poor white kid. I know that they want to keep diversity. That is countable by ethnicity and provable, being gay is not easily provable. If you can write about how it has changed your life and make your application stand out because of it, go for it, but it should be no different than any other kind of quality.</p>
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<p>Obviously this is only one school, but it does seem that LGBT students are in demand at some schools. However, I don't think Brown has a shortage of such applicants, most of them academically qualified.</p>
<p>there are A LOT of gay people here.</p>
<p>and, like one of my friends said before, writing an essay about being gay is meaningful, but not necessarily unique.</p>
<p>Princeton ranks at the very top for gay friendliness by the Advocate Guide to LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bi-sexual Transgender) so by all means please apply and expect to be treated well. The President (female) Deans (mostly female) and administration staff (mostly female and enlightened males) go out of their way to support LGBT students and their social events. I was told that some old alumni are not happy about this and they try to play it down however read the articles it is true.
<a href="http://dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2006/10/03/news/16027.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2006/10/03/news/16027.shtml</a>
Princeton understands and welcomes a diverse LGBT student community.
<a href="http://www.princeton.edu/lgbt/%5B/url%5D">http://www.princeton.edu/lgbt/</a></p>
<p>Apparently an admissions office representative was heard saying they are giving some thought to including LGBTas a diversity category as in the case of Middlebury.
I actually met someone who was so nervous about including this in his essay that he looked up names of admissions people online to find out if they were active politically in different LGBT organizations before he submitted his essay. I thought that was a little extreme but it made him feel safe so I guess its ok. He got in and is very happy at Princeton.</p>
<p>too bad that this is the Brown forum...</p>
<p>Why should it help if you're gay? Admissions should be the same no matter if you're white, black, gay, or blue. It should be based on your achievements and personality not your heritage, sexual orientation, or any other thing like that.</p>
<p>The other aspect of this you have to look at, is that its impossible to tell if someone really is gay from an admissions officer's standpoint. Race and Ethnicity can be empirically judged, its black or white. If affirmative action for the LGBT community were to be instituted what would stop a straight person from claiming homosexuality? While I certainly don't condone that action, it wouldn't be possible for an admissions officer to determine if said candidate was telling the truth. College admissions has become a cut-throat game, where some applicants will do almost anything to gain an edge. In an ideal world, affirmative action for the LGBT community might be an attractive option, however in our world it sadly just isn't feasible.</p>
<p>Considering how many gay / bi people there are here already, I'd say that's a definite no. We aren't an underrepresented minority here! </p>
<p>You could say in your application that you want a Queer friendly campus, which would probably help you in your case for why you want to attend.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and mention your burning desire to attend Sex Power God and Star Fck. J/K....</p>
<p>Ungst -- it's very true that things like affirmative action don't always (if ever) take important specific circumstances like socio economic status into consideration, but the bottom line is that black people and many other races are so drastically underrepresented at this level (like the percentage of native americans is <1%) that you have to do SOMETHING to help balance that out. I mean it's not just coincidence that said peoples are so underepresented. You can whine all day about it not being fair to white people, but when it comes to increasing diversity (which is important), do you have a better idea?</p>
<p>paying3tuitions -- i agree. Gay people aren't exactly underrepresented at Oberlin either!!</p>
<p>A better idea would be to tackle the source of the problem- public education systems. Increasing diversity by lowering standards for different races does not solve the problem- it merely shows that there are deeper problems to begin with.</p>
<p>I definitely agree that that's the true answer. But until that time comes...</p>
<p>Until that time comes its ok to perpetuate racism? Just because you're trying to fix a past injustice doesn't mean you should commit another kind of injustice.</p>
<p>Affirmative action does not lower the standard if practiced properly. All you are doing is considering the obstacles that applicants overcame because of the minority background.</p>
<p>Well said spark. And affirmative action isn't racism. It isn't denying white people spots, it's just giving a leg up to people of color considering their obstacles. People just assume that lesser people are admitted because of minority status, but like spark said, if practiced properly, it gives a spot to a person of color when two equally qualified canidates are being considered. That's by no means an injustice.</p>
<p>If you consider that racism, tough cookies. (And I'm a white kid speaking here)</p>
<p>If practiced properly, affirmative action does lower academic standards. Its purpose is to give students who aren't normally represented at the school a leg up in admissions. You can say admissions is "considering the obstacles that applicants overcame" but that's only necessary because they don't meet the traditional academic standards.
Claysoul- you can't give someone a leg up without adversing affecting the other people. At the end of the day, everyone is competing for the same spots, and if you give a leg up to one race, there are less spots available for the others. Also, given two equal applicants, if you always choose the minority race, how is that not racism? Isn't racism discriminating people based purely on the quality of race? If you have a different defintion, please share it. Just as a law that serves to help white people in admissions would be racist, so is a law that serves to help minority races. Please don't misunderstand me- I don't think affirmative action is as heinous as other forms of racism, but I dislike when people blind themselves to what it is. Affirmative action is racism. Just because you try to use it for a 'good cause,' that doesn't detract from this truth. (Similarly, just because you're white Claysoul and are working for some form of social justice, that doesn't change the truth)</p>