Larry Purdy Responds to ‘Taming the River’ authors
Larry Purdy, author of Getting Under the Skin of “Diversity”: Searching for the Color-Blind Ideal, responds to an article I blogged about earlier today, “Affirmative-Action Programs for Minority Students: Right in Theory, Wrong in Practice,” adapted from a book titled, Taming the River: Negotiating the Academic, Financial, and Social Currents in Selective Colleges and Universities.
Among other things, Purdy explains the difference between affirmative action and race preferences. The two are used interchangeably, but they are distinct. Purdy writes:
“As a preliminary matter, the essay mixes and matches two very different concepts, ‘affirmative action’ and ‘race-sensitive policies’ (or race-preferences). The former, in its best sense, is directly opposed to the blatant racial discrimination practiced under the latter. As a matter of historical background, ‘affirmative action’ was devised to insure that no person would be discriminated against based on his race or ethnicity. It is a principle that most Americans agree deserves vigilant support and perpetual protection. Indeed, that is the essence of what President John F. Kennedy had in mind when he coined the phrase in 1961. His policy directed that ‘affirmative action’ be taken to remove, not add, race as a factor in deciding who should be hired by the federal government…Today’s race-preference policies fly in the face of that principle and frustrate the achievement of the color-blind society most Americans sincerely desire.”
