University Discriminated Against Swedes

[Loki77]

One of the highest seats of learning in Sweden, Uppsala University, has been found guilty of discrimination by the supreme court for reserving places on its law course for people with immigrant backgrounds.


Uppsala was taken to court by two women who were rejected from the course, even though they had better marks than all 30 immigrant applicants.The women had previously won their case at both district and appeal court level.



The supreme court ruled that the university had discriminated against both women. It said that setting quotas is acceptable as long as applicants are treated equally.The women were awarded 75,000 kronor in compensation with the state paying costs.


http://www.sr.se/rs/english/

[tyovan]

Sounds kind of like the Swedish version of University of California v Bakke ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California_Regents_v._Bakke )

[gaijinsamurai]

Loki, do you know if the women were finally admitted? Also, please forgive me for my ignorance of Swedish currency (and being to lazy to look up exchange rates), but is 75,000 Kronor much money?
Just curious.
On a similar note, I remember the controversy when UC Berkeley discriminated against Asians, saying there were too many of them at the school, and they would therefore have to pass more stringent criterea than whites, African-Americans, and Hispanics.
By giving special criteria to certain groups, governments are only perpetuating prejudice against them.

[Russian_dude]

I amstill waiting for Saudi Arabian women to be compensated for mass dicrimination.

[Cedan]

Loki, do you know if the women were finally admitted? Also, please forgive me for my ignorance of Swedish currency (and being to lazy to look up exchange rates), but is 75,000 Kronor much money?
Just curious.
On a similar note, I remember the controversy when UC Berkeley discriminated against Asians, saying there were too many of them at the school, and they would therefore have to pass more stringent criterea than whites, African-Americans, and Hispanics.
By giving special criteria to certain groups, governments are only perpetuating prejudice against them.

75.000 SEK is 11.011 USD

[Loki77]

Loki, do you know if the women were finally admitted? Also, please forgive me for my ignorance of Swedish currency (and being to lazy to look up exchange rates), but is 75,000 Kronor much money?
Just curious.
On a similar note, I remember the controversy when UC Berkeley discriminated against Asians, saying there were too many of them at the school, and they would therefore have to pass more stringent criterea than whites, African-Americans, and Hispanics.
By giving special criteria to certain groups, governments are only perpetuating prejudice against them.

Still not...
http://www2.unt.se/avd2/1,3908,MC=77-AV_ID=564078,00.html
(http://www.thelocal.se/5643/20061129/)

[gaijinsamurai]

Wait a minute....are you saying these women got $11?

[makavelli]

$11?? is that for real?

[Erik Sleivöks]

He means 11'011.00 USD (Eleven thousand):)

[gaijinsamurai]

Okay. That's a little different. The decimal points, as opposed to commas, confused me. I still hope they make it into the university.
And more importantly, I hope enough Swedes are angry at this to force a change.
Of course, it's not my country, and therefore none of my business........

[Russian_dude]

Well, even Martin Luther King probably killed a bug during his lifetime.

[signatory]

Okay. That's a little different. The decimal points, as opposed to commas, confused me. I still hope they make it into the university.
And more importantly, I hope enough Swedes are angry at this to force a change.
Of course, it's not my country, and therefore none of my business........

No need to be angry anymore...

That one university who broke the law, had already even before the trail stopped this 'project' of discriminating Swedes...

Glad this is settled anyway. And it's a prejudicial case. One of the girls was accepted to another university, the other one the news I read didn't say.

[Loki77]

No need to be angry anymore...


Now they're attended a school that has less prestige than Uppsala University.

[signatory]

Now they're attended a school that has less prestige than Uppsala University.

If by prestige you mean sentenced by the supreme court for discrimination...

[maloryII]

These may be different scenarios.

Having been involved with graduate education, I call you this:

The number of Asian (particularly Chinese) applicants to 'hard science' programs (biology, physics, chemistry, etc.) in the United States is overwhelming.

They all have PERFECT grades. They all have PERFECT letters of recommendation.

But they graduate from Chinese universities that have little or no international standing and their letters are from professors who either do not publish in well-regarded peer journals or are entirely unknown to the academic community.

If Western universities did not "discriminate" against specific demographics of applicants, there would be nothing but Asian graduate students in every scientific field in every university in the West.

Universities bend over backwards to include as wide a demographic of students as the possibly can. They BEND OVER BACKWARDS.

The reason there are not many Hispanic or Black graduate students in the United States has nothing to do with "racist" or "discriminatory" policies of graduate entrance committies. I promise you this.

It has everything to do with the number of applicants and their respective academic background.

For instance,

A white student with a bachelor degree from a major western university, letters from well-known professors in the field, and a decent (say, 3.6) grade point average is going to be more favorable to a graduate selection committee than an asian student with a bachelor degree from an obscure Chinese university, letters from professors who publish only in Chinese journals, and a stellar (4.0) grade point average.

Why?

Because for every white student with above dossier there are 15-20 (yes, that many) Chinese applicants with the same grades, the same degree, and the same letters. You should read some of these letters of recommendation. For example, "Student X is the most talented biologist I have ever seen." Such superlatives are very common.

Make no mistake, it has nothing to do with race or culture. But it has everything to do with diversifaction of the applicant pool.

Using the above criterion, a black applicant with a similar GPA and similar accolades would be preferred over the white student and the asian student.

Why?

Becuase for every black student with the aforementioned dossier there are 10 white students and 50 asian students competing for the same spot!

In the case of the hard sciences, Western universities are seeing a profound decline in the number of white students versus the number of Asian students.

Western universities are NOT trying to reinforce the white educational hegemon, but rather attempting to keep the applicant pool as diverse as possible. If that means preferring white applicants over asian applicants in certain instances, or blacks over whites, and so forth, so be it. Ultimately it's all for the benefit of the academic community.

Universities are not sheltering the poor drug-slinging immigrant stereotypes everyone fears. They pick the best, most diverse student body they can find.

In a field such as history, english, or anthropology, a minority student would be preferred over a white student in the same way a white student would be preferred over an asian student in a "hard science."

This is how the academic world works. It works not in anyone's interest but its own.

Academia in the western world is the most egalitarian realm of thought, culture, and lifestlye in the world. Period. Only very rarely is it ever guilty of a racially or culturally motivated transgression.

We'd all do best to let them do as they have, pay our taxes dutifully, and encourage them to continue to seek excellence and diversity in their halls.

[ren0312]

These may be different scenarios.

Having been involved with graduate education, I call you this:

The number of Asian (particularly Chinese) applicants to 'hard science' programs (biology, physics, chemistry, etc.) in the United States is overwhelming.

They all have PERFECT grades. They all have PERFECT letters of recommendation.

But they graduate from Chinese universities that have little or no international standing and their letters are from professors who either do not publish in well-regarded peer journals or are entirely unknown to the academic community.

If Western universities did not "discriminate" against specific demographics of applicants, there would be nothing but Asian graduate students in every scientific field in every university in the West.

Universities bend over backwards to include as wide a demographic of students as the possibly can. They BEND OVER BACKWARDS.

The reason there are not many Hispanic or Black graduate students in the United States has nothing to do with "racist" or "discriminatory" policies of graduate entrance committies. I promise you this.

It has everything to do with the number of applicants and their respective academic background.

For instance,

A white student with a bachelor degree from a major western university, letters from well-known professors in the field, and a decent (say, 3.6) grade point average is going to be more favorable to a graduate selection committee than an asian student with a bachelor degree from an obscure Chinese university, letters from professors who publish only in Chinese journals, and a stellar (4.0) grade point average.

Why?

Because for every white student with above dossier there are 15-20 (yes, that many) Chinese applicants with the same grades, the same degree, and the same letters. You should read some of these letters of recommendation. For example, "Student X is the most talented biologist I have ever seen." Such superlatives are very common.

Make no mistake, it has nothing to do with race or culture. But it has everything to do with diversifaction of the applicant pool.

Using the above criterion, a black applicant with a similar GPA and similar accolades would be preferred over the white student and the asian student.

Why?

Becuase for every black student with the aforementioned dossier there are 10 white students and 50 asian students competing for the same spot!

In the case of the hard sciences, Western universities are seeing a profound decline in the number of white students versus the number of Asian students.

Western universities are NOT trying to reinforce the white educational hegemon, but rather attempting to keep the applicant pool as diverse as possible. If that means preferring white applicants over asian applicants in certain instances, or blacks over whites, and so forth, so be it. Ultimately it's all for the benefit of the academic community.

Universities are not sheltering the poor drug-slinging immigrant stereotypes everyone fears. They pick the best, most diverse student body they can find.

In a field such as history, english, or anthropology, a minority student would be preferred over a white student in the same way a white student would be preferred over an asian student in a "hard science."

This is how the academic world works. It works not in anyone's interest but its own.

Academia in the western world is the most egalitarian realm of thought, culture, and lifestlye in the world. Period. Only very rarely is it ever guilty of a racially or culturally motivated transgression.

We'd all do best to let them do as they have, pay our taxes dutifully, and encourage them to continue to seek excellence and diversity in their halls.

So what do these results mean, does this mean that Asians are more intelligent than Whites, Blacks, and Latinos when it comes to science?

[Loki77]

If by prestige you mean sentenced by the supreme court for discrimination...

They were discriminated by a politically correct law. Without deserve now are studying in a lower institution.