<p>"BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- A Boston University student group is offering a scholarship for white students to protest financial aid programs in the United States that select by ethnic background, university officials said on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The group, Boston University College Republicans, told campus publications the $250 Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship was intended as a statement and they had raised funds privately for the award, which does not have the backing of the university...."</p>
<p>This somehow is very reminiscent of the AA bake sale. Yes, they make a very very obvious point, but there are already a lot of really strange scholarships out there (articles have been written) for people with all kinds of backgrounds, people with a particular last name, things like that.</p>
<p>This story got some television air time. Basically, the group was saying that they don't feel that there should be a scholarship based on race. They wanted to draw attention to this issue. They claim that the public in general has no problem with minority scholarships, but if a there were one for Caucasians then people would have problems with it. The person representing this group at BU stated that BU offers half tuition scholarships to Hispanics. He said that they are offering a $250 scholarship if one wins their essay contest. There are 2 different essay questions. I believe one was something about your experience as a white person in America. I believe that to qualify one was must be 25% Caucasian.</p>
<p>mini, we crossed posts. I believe that one only needs to be 25% Caucasian to qualify for this scholarship. Don't know how they check, but they are trying to make a statement with this scholarship.</p>
<p>"mini, we crossed posts. I believe that one only needs to be 25% Caucasion to qualify for this scholarship."</p>
<p>But I'm Mongol-Semitic (with a bit of a North African twist.) My coffee-colored, dark-eyed daughter from Mumbai, in contrast, is definitely "Caucasian". I think the real question is how close in line one is to being the Queen of England. I think I'd only have to bump off about 2 1/2 billion people, give or take, provided I had a sex change operation.</p>
<p>(I might do better with the Emperor of China.)</p>
<p>When they ask for "race" on forms and such, I usually put "200 meters". For sex, "more". ;)</p>
<p>Isn't the average American black (slavery ancestry, not new immigrants) 25% caucasian? I've read that statistic many times, but I'm too lazy to verify it.</p>
<p>Opinions?? There are many, many privately based scholarships that have specific requirements, and would certainly be considered "discriminatory". The issue here that they are protesting seems to be whether schools should offer similar, restrictive scholarships.</p>
<p>If a school wants to offer an all black scholarship then I think they should offer to other races.</p>
<p>I personally believe that the color of your skin should not be the grounds for a scholarship. Scholarships should be about academics, community service and most importantly NEED-BASE.</p>
<p>Now, don't get me wrong I know that black people struggle because I am black. But I still don't agree with the argument that the color of someone's skin should determine wheter or not they get money to attend school. </p>
<p>Now many of people use the argument that many black people can't afford college/university. That why there are need-base scholarship. I just hate that argument because alot of white, asians and so on can't afford school either. And its that stereotyping?</p>
<p>Also if someone screams racism for an all white scholarship shouldn't it be racism to offer an all black scholarship.</p>
<p>Great post tmacgirl.
The reason they are doing this is to bring to everyone attention that a race scholarship is rediculous, even though they set one up they believe it is wrong to have one.</p>
<p>"Also if someone screams racism for an all white scholarship shouldn't it be racism to offer an all black scholarship." - thats their point of creating this scholarship, they are hoping people will get angry about this scholarship and realize that the others for other races/skin color/etc. are as well.</p>
<p>If they want to do that it's fine with me, minority scholarships don't bother me either. There are in essence scholarships for Caucasians, I mean there are scholarships only for Polish people, Irish people, etc. "White" or Caucasian is not really a culture in itself in America, whereas the black community in America mostly did band together and create a culture of their own historically, since they were more or less forced to. The same way that when immigrants from European countries they created communities here and some have stayed involved in those roots. Therefore, if someone from the black community chooses to offer a scholarship to someone else in that community, seems not only fair but a realistic extension of what a community is, just as if someone Jewish chooses to offer a scholarship to someone Jewish, or some Polish chooses to offer a scholarship to someone Polish.</p>
<p>My understanding of a lot of university scholarships is that they are funded by a donor who can put specifications on it, i.e. this one is earmarked for someone from Oregon, or someone a certain culture. Doesn't bother me.</p>
<p>Well my question is: If a hispanic of african-american applied for a caucasion scholarship, would the NAACP or the ACLU get involved if they did not get it?</p>
<p>To me all-black, all-white scholarships are the same as scholarships for kids living in a certain state i.e Alaska. Or a scholarship for kids whose parents are in the miltary or a scholarship for a family making less than $60,000 a year. Am I going to cry "discrimination" because I am not a military brat who lives in Alaska with parents who make less than $60000? No! I look for scholarships that I do fit its criteria. All-black scholarships are just as fair as region, and other restrictive, scholarships are.</p>