Harvard prof applauds affirmative action

By Sean Weaver
The Metropolitan

The largest problem facing minorities in schools today is an infrastructure that does not prepare students for jobs or college, said Harvard professor Alvin Poussaint during a
Nov. 6 lecture  in the Tivoli Turnhalle.

Poussaint, whose lecture was featured as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series offered by Metro Student Activities and CU-Denver Student Life, addressed the role of affirmative action at universities and the workplace, and the civil rights movement.

Poussaint said the bitter racism of the past lingers among blacks today.

ãWe had two centuries of being slaves, and we are 30 years out of the civil rights movement,ä he said. ãDo you think in 30 years we have done away with the internalized feelings of 350 years?ä

Poussaint, who sat on Harvardâs admissions board, said universities need to adopt admission policies that are equitable and fair.

He said admissions standards based on SAT scores are a ãridiculous way to show meritsä because the scores are proportionate to a studentâs family income and other socio-economic factors.

Poussaint said he does not believe affirmative action is special treatment.

He said affirmative action does not mean universities should modify criteria for graduation.

ãThey get graded like anyone else,ä he said. ãIf they flunk out, they flunk out. If they graduate, they graduate. Just as you have a spread (in college performance) with white students,  so you have a spread with black students and Latino students.ä

From 1965 to 1967, Poussaint was the Southern field director of the Medical Committee for Human Rights in Jackson, Miss.

 He provided medical care for civil rights workers and fought for desegregation in medical facilities in the South.

ãIf you were black and bleeding in a white hospital (in the 1960s), theyâd make you bleed outside,ä he said.

Daryl Jackson, marketing assisting for the Metro Student Activities, said speakers such as Poussaint make people think.

ãWe try to get experts in fields that students on our campus are interested in,ä Jackson said.