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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Capture the Clueless
When the YCT’s at a party, no punchbowl is safe. The Young Conservatives of Texas group, which closer to home is known for high-fiving itself for getting a Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter fired, and for its “capture the illegal immigrant” day at UNT last month, decided this time around to make itself offensive at SMU. The occasion was an amendment on the student senate ballot that would have repealed a provision that currently reserves four positions for African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic, and international students. The set-asides seem paternalistic — even the minority communities at the Dallas school were in agreement with ending the race-of-officeholder requirement, although candidates for the four slots would still be voted on only by the individual ethnic groups.
But the YCT couldn’t just debate the issue. Instead, it ran white candidates for those positions — who were ineligible to serve anyway. The repeal fell slightly short of the two-thirds majority required for approval, but YCT’s actions stirred up a storm in the punchbowl that minority students found offensive. Well, of course. YCT’s charter apparently commits its members to fomenting as much race antagonism as possible through pointless and ugly actions. (It doesn’t require a straight-arm salute yet, but surely that’s next.) Static, however, thinks it would have been a fascinating experience if the YCT’ers had been allowed to serve — and required to represent the wishes of the minority students. Perfect training for the government posts that most of them surely aspire to — they could get early practice in shouldering the white man’s burden of protecting those less fortunate from the perils of equality, democracy, and a functioning Social Security system.
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