An African-American studies professor at Columbia University on Wednesday took to task a Texas student who is organizing scholarship exclusively for white men.
Marc Lamont Hill on MSNBC told Colby Bohannan — who came up with the scholarship idea — that “being white is itself a form of scholarship.” He said that white Americans have better access to health care, criminal justice and housing, among other things.
“There’s no need,” he said. In fact, Hill called it a “spectacle that we see every year with Affirmative-Action bake sales, with now whites-only scholarships, which only draw attention to white folk who are becoming increasingly frustrated that the world is becoming a little more fair.”
Bohannan disagrees.
“First of all, I just want to thank him for pointing out the fact that that ‘white folk,’ his words, not mine, have no problem affording anything,” Bohannan responded. “Right after I’m done with this interview, I’m going to go to the bank and say, ‘hey, I forgot I was a Caucasian American, can you just go ahead and throw some money in my account, please.’”
Bohannan — a student at Texas State University in San Marcos — is president of the Former Majority Association for Equality, the nonprofit group offering the scholarships. The group has raised enough money to offer five $500 scholarships for the fall 2011 semester. In order to qualify for the scholarships, applicants must be 25 percent Caucasian and have a 3.0 GPA or higher.
Members of the group contend that they are simply interested in helping underprivileged students afford college.
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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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