University Admissions approved a scholarship yesterday open exclusively to white students, said Senior Associate Dean of Admission Gregory Pike.
“This is a monumental decision for the Admissions office,” Pike said. “The only full-tuition scholarships we had offered up until now were the Freeman Asian Scholarships.”
Pike explained that the new scholarship, the McCarthy scholarship, is a growing national trend, first offered at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island.
Five McCarthy scholarships will be offered each year. In order to apply, interested students must provide a color photo of themselves and a character recommendation from a teacher or extra-curricular activity faculty advisor. The scholarship will first be presented to members of the class of 2008, once all admissions decisions have been made in early May.
The scholarship is quickly catching on at other schools as well, such as Bob Jones University, Williams College, and Vassar College. Proposed by President Bush and backed by Attorney General John Ashcroft, the McCarthy scholarship is named after infamous U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who blacklisted many politicians in the 1950s who he believed were communists. Instead of embodying his blacklisting habits, President Bush said he chose to name the scholarship after McCarthy because it “represents the same ideals as the senator: those of maintaining the spirit of America.” When questioned by reporters from The New York Times on whether or not the scholarship appeared racist, Bush responded, “In a day and age when Affirmative Action has expanded to cover almost every institution, a white scholarship is not only a positive addition, it’s a good idea.” Bush cited the fact that in 30 years, white people themselves will be a minority as further support for his argument.
WeScrewUp, the anti-white supremacy group on campus, was quick to jump on President Bennet and Dean Pyke for their decision to offer the McCarthy scholarship.
“Nothing could be more against the ideals of Wesleyan than the McCarthy scholarship,” said Jane Causia ’06, President of WeScrewUp. “If we offer this scholarship, why do we claim that we are ‘Diversity University’? ”
Other members of WeScrewUp agreed with Causia, but were not able to comment at the time, as they were watching “White Men Can’t Jump.”
There was a surprisingly large contingent of supporters for the scholarship who contested WeScrewUp, including Naomi Ekperigin ’05, a black student.
“White people are oppressed!” she insisted. “Have you seen them dance lately? They need all the help they can get!”
The members of the Wesleyan Republicans Club also believed that the scholarship was a positive addition.
“President Bush enacted this law for the right reasons. Wesleyan chose to offer this scholarship for the right reasons,” said Jonah Burke ’04, member of the WesRepubs.
All five Wesleyan Republicans will be applying for the scholarship.
In order to guarantee that the scholarships are only given to 100 percent Caucasians, the Admissions Office will be doing background checks on all applicants. With the new information tracing provided by the Patriot Act, Admissions will be able to scan all recent purchases and activities by applicants; if anything hints at them having ties to another ethnicity, there will be further investigation.
“For example, if a student has recently purchased Ebony Magazine, we know something’s up,” said Nancy Harlequin, Assistant Dean of Admissions. Other suspicious purchases include sushi rice, plantains, and lambskin condoms.
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