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2012 Michigan Community College Press Association JudgingForm

Place of award:

First Place Second Place Third Place Honorable Mention

Category: Inside Page Design

Headline/title of entry: Opinion

Contestants name: Justin Dawes

College name: Grand Rapids CC

Judges comments: I like the shout out at the bottom of the page. It's clean.

Nicely formatting although the shout out headline is a little hard to read. Lot oftype on this page. To help air things out, try going ragged right instead ofjustifying. Opposing Viewpoints is hard to read. 'Opposing' does not haveenough leading. The by lines inside the black box need to be inset a little more.

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OpinionFebruary 1, 2012 8Is GRCC justifed in its plan to raiseaculty and sta minority levels?

How do you feel about the effort to raise the number of minority staff and faculty?

Student Shoutout by Justin Dawes

Sabrina JiSophmore

I dont think itsnecessary. It shouldbe based on theirability to work andtheir attitude and

their interest.

Anthony AbreuJunior

Im for it. It givesminorities a betterchance to succeed

because it puts themon the same playing

feld.

Breah SimpsonFreshman

I think its a goodidea. It could

be motivating tostudents and would

give minorities abetter chance to get

work.

Caleb CurtissFreshman

As long as theteacher can beunderstood, its

ok. More diversitycould be a good

thing--seeing othercultures and ideas,giving us multiple

perspectives.

Selena SuarezSophmore

If theyre just hiringthem because

theyre a minority,thats not good. I likethat theyre trying tobe more diverse, butthey should still hire

fairly.

Racism still exists. According to a

survey conducted by CNN, 43 percento whites and 48 percent o blackssaid they know somebody who theyconsider a racist.

The concept o Afrmative Actionbegan in Executive Order 10925 signedby President John F. Kennedy callingor government contractors to notdiscriminate against any employee or

applicant or employment because o

race, creed, color, or national originas well as take afrmative action toensure that applicants are employed,and that employees are treated during

employment, without regard to theirrace, creed, color, or national origin.

In a study conducted by theUniversity o Illinois, people withblack sounding names such asLakisha and Jamal are 50 percentmore likely not to even get a call oran interview when applying or a jobversus white sounding names likeEmily and Brendan.

According to a poll conducted byGallup, 56 percent o American adults

still eel there is widespread racism

against black Americans. 39 percent oAmericans also eel that discriminationagainst blacks is a major actor in blackeducation levels.

When you look at the current pay

rates, it is evident that the glass ceilingstill needs to break, says WomensIssues Now President DanielleHarrison.

Why would any person wish tostand against not just cracking the glassceiling but sending more and morecracks to ultimately break the ceiling topieces and sweeping the pieces to thetrash along with sexism.

Afrmative Action does not createa avorable advantage with a resulto reverse discrimination. It is merelyorcing businesses and schools to dosomething they should be doing inthe frst place- not paying attention to

race, gender, or anything else when

considering somebody or a positionbut instead their qualifcations. Itallows or every person to be on a levelplaying feld in giving everybody a

chance to get their oot in the door.

Higher education is in place toormally educate people to achieve highresults and excel in the workplace. Doesit not then make sense or schools to

actively outreach to minority studentsin hiring sta that not only they canrelate to but also inspire them? Whywould any person wish to stand againstthe inspiration o another student?

Standing against AfrmativeAction is standing against progress.Progress not in the orm o a radicalsocial agenda, but instead progressin the orm o beginning ridding thiscountry o poverty and high crime rates.

I ask that you please join GRCC in

their mission to permanently cast down

a doctrine o Separate but Equaland instead progressing humanity toeradicate racism and sexism rom evenbeing a topic in modern debate.

In a previous article in the Collegiate,readers were inormed o GRCCsdesire to hire more minority acultyand sta members. GRCC PresidentSteven Ender was quoted, saying,We are striving or the percentage o

minority aculty members to be equalto or greater than the minority levels oour student body.

Cathy Wilson, Executive Directoro Human Resources, believes thatpurposeully increasing the numbero minority sta members will bebenefcial to the students becauseit will provide a diverse learningenvironment.

Its always been GRCCs practice,said Wilson, but now its part o

the Strategic Plan (a three-yearplan outlining GRCCs values and

direction).According to GRCCs 2011-2014

Strategic Plan with Action Projectson the Strategic Teams website,Action Plan 5.2.1 is to strengthen therecruitment and hiring process so to

attract highly qualifed, highly diverseull-time and adjunct aculty.

While I believe the collegesofcials have good intentions, hiringmembers o minority groups simplybecause they are minorities does not

send a good message to students.America was meant to be the lando equal opportunity. No, that hasnot been true through most o thecountrys history, but there has been alot o eort to change that over the lastorty years, and this new practice, in a

way, does the opposite.GRCCs intentions are to create

more diversity and take part in makingequal opportunities by showingminority students stories o success,but they are also being shown thatminorities sometimes can, and maybeshould, have an upper hand simplybecause they are minorities.

One way the school is bringing in

more minority applicants is by reachingout to trade association magazines

because they are key to providinginormation about job opportunities

to minority job seekers, according tothe previous article. Making a diversegroup o applicants aware o jobopenings is agreeable especially sinceapplicants cannot lawully be askedethnicity on an application. But what

goes on during the interview process iswhat concerns me.

When asked i the strategic planwould be ollowed i there weretwo equally qualifed applicants,one a minority and one not, Wilson

responded: Yes, i that minority isa good ft and interested. And Imcomortable in saying that.

GRCC student and part Mexicanwoman Selena Suarez disagrees withthe schools stance. I theyre justhiring them because theyre minorities,

thats not good. I like that theyre tryingto be more diverse, but they should stillhire airly, Suarez said.

Diversity is a great thing, but onlywhen its natural. Why should all thepotentially qualifed white males othe world have a more difcult chanceo being hired? Students defnitelyshould be exposed to dierent culturesand outlooks than their own, but not

by having minorities hand pickedand placed into their lives. People are

people: that is an important concepteveryone needs to learn; authority

fgures making an employmentdecision based on ethnicity does notteach students this important lesson.

Equally qualifed candidatesshould instead be chosen based oncharacter and personality.

Leslie Neal, a GRCC proessor whoalso happens to be o Arican descent,is agreeable to the colleges plan. Ithink its a good idea in theory. It helpswith peoples confdence when theysee people in power who look like

them, Neal said.It seems this could be seen asbackwards discrimination, i you will.I am by no means calling the schoolsofcials racistsI dont think thats thecase. But what kind o message does itsend when the color o someones skin

plays a major roleor any role, or thatmatterin being hired?

The human race will not truly beover discriminative-type ideas untilemployers can hire a person basedsolely on the qualifcations and abilityto perorm. This is what will reallyshow minority students stories osuccess: that someone rom their raceor heritage was able to attend school

and get a job just like everyone else,not by special privileges, but by hard

work.

OP

POSING

Viewpoints

NO:By Justin DawesOpinion Editor

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