A volunteer group in San Marcos, Texas has set up scholarships for a group of students they think is underrepresented: white men.
A student formed the “Former Majority Association for Equality” to organize the scholarships. Colby Bohannan — a senior at Texas State University in San Marcos and the group’s president — told the Austin American-Statesman the lack of white-only scholarships made him feel “excluded.”
“If everyone else can find scholarships, why are we left out?” he said.
According to the group’s website, the organization has raised the necessary $2,500 to dole out five scholarships of $500 each. For the Spring 2012 semester, they have doubled their goal, seeking to give out $1,000 scholarships to five students. Interestingly, the group’s nine-member board has three women, an African American and one Hispanic, according to the Statesman.
But are Caucasian males really that underrepresented today? According to U.S. census data, non-Hispanic whites make up about 45 percent of the Texas’ population.
To qualify for the scholarships, applicants must be at least “25 percent Caucasian” and have a 3.0 GPA.
“We’re not looking for blond-haired, blue-eyed, stereotypical white males,” Bohannan told Reuters. “My feeling is that if you can say you’re 25 percent Caucasian, you’re Caucasian enough for us.”
The Former Majority Association for Equality did not respond to TPM’s requests for comment.
h/t Reuters.
David Taintor
David Taintor is TPM’s News Editor. He contributes to TPM’s Livewire coverage, among other areas. David is from Chanhassen, Minnesota, where, yes, it gets very cold. Reach him at taintor [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
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