Recent controversy has surrounded a Texas organization, the Former Majority Association for Equality, which announced they were raising money to provide scholarships exclusively for white male students.
Critics are calling the scholarship racist. Supporters are calling it fair. Not to mention, money is always a topic of heated debate – someone always feels left out.
The organization has pointed out that in Texas white males are no longer the “majority.” Excluding them from scholarships is imbalanced and, in a country striving for diversity and fairness, everyone (yes, even white guys) should have an equal opportunity for financial aid. FMAE is seeking to give out five $500 scholarships this summer, and double that in 2012.
The organization has recognized that their mission to provide funds for qualified Caucasian males (recipients must be at least 25 percent white, show financial need and have a 3.0 GPA) may seem more racist than a scholarship offered exclusively to “minority” groups. On their website, they address this by stating in their mission, “We do not advocate white supremacy, nor do we enable any individual that does. We do not accept donations from organizations affiliated with any sort of white supremacy or hate group. We have no hidden agenda to promote racial bigotry or segregation. FMAE’s existence is dedicated around one simple principle, to provide monetary aid for education to white males who need it.”
The questions sprouting from this: Is the group’s scholarship a racist concept? Or is it simply recognizing a shift in American demographics and higher education?
Author, blogger, researcher, and former Wall Street (Goldman Sachs) analyst J.C. Davies is going to attempt some answers. Her newest book, I Got the Fever, looks at race relations in dating and examines other interracial dynamics, especially within Latino, Asian, Black, Jewish, and Indian cultures. Davies has been on NPR, ABC Australia and in the L.A. Times, New York Magazine and many others talking about culture, race and dating.
Davies will provide her commentary on:
- Why some see the scholarship as racially insensitive
- If she thinks the scholarship is a legitimate response to a changing America
- If she thinks that young white male students are a forgotten group in higher education
- How is one to approach racial dialogue in an otherwise seemingly “post-racial” world?
So what do you think? Should this scholarship exist? Do people have a right to be outraged?