Wisconsin Student Government Demands Free Tuition, Housing for Blacks

The Associated Students of Madison issued a resolution which says that the University of Wisconsin should provide free tuition and housing for black students because of slavery.

Black students should be offered free tuition and housing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison because blacks were legally barred from education during slavery and university remains out of reach for black students today, the student government said Wednesday.

Not only do they think black students deserve a free ride at Wisconsin, they think that admission standards shouldn’t apply them either. Apparently they don’t believe black students can compete academically without lowering the bar.

The Associated Students of Madison said in a resolution that students from suburban high schools are overrepresented. The group said consideration of ACT and SAT scores in applications restricts opportunities for the poor and thus upholds “white supremacy.”

I suppose university admissions should be based totally on how needy someone is and how rough their ancestors had it.

The resolution demands free access to the university for all black people, including former inmates. That means free tuition, free housing and no fees, Mack said. That would save a black resident undergraduate student about $20,000 a year.

The resolution goes on to call for the university to use 10 percent of donations to bolster financial aid and study the feasibility of test-optional and geographically weighted admissions.

The language mirrors demands that the Black Liberation Collective, a national network of black youth focused on higher education, has made to nearly 90 campuses across the country.

The Black Liberation Collective—as one might expect from anything calling itself a “liberation collective”—looks like just another identity politics front organization fighting for socialism. The bulk of their website consists of statements that begin with “We demand…” with the occasional raised fist logo. This is their mission statement:

The Black Liberation Collective is dedicated to building infrastructure for Black students around the globe to build power, using an intersectional lens, in order to make our campuses safe for all Black students. The Black Liberation Collective is also committed to working collectively with Black organizers across the country and globe to bringing about freedom and liberation for all Black people.

“Building infrastructure?” I’m not clear on whether they’re using that phrase figuratively or if they literally want to build separate campus infrastructure for black students, which is entirely possible. They tout their general social justice warrior bonafides in a description of their “framework.”

In our organizing we believe in centering those that experience intersecting identities which make them particularly vulnerable to various forms of violence and oppression, including cis and trans Black women, Black queer folks, gender non-conforming Black folks, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated Black folks, Black folks that are undocumented, and working class Black folks.

The Associated Students of Madison is a a student government organization and is responsible for allocating about $43 million in student fees every year.

The Associated Students of Madison (ASM) is composed of roughly 50 elected or appointed students, 50 student employees, 12 professional staff members, and 200 student appointees on committees that hold legal rights to recommend university policies, budgets, and candidates for UW employment.

The student government calls the University’s commitment to diversity and race relations “empty promises.” They’re not without their critics though.

Asked for comment on the resolution, Mike Mikalsen, an aide to state Sen. Steve Nass — a Republican and one of the university’s most outspoken critics — responded by calling ASM a waste of student fees.

Not every student is on board either.

Chinese graduate student Yuhong Zhu said the resolution is awkward and he’d rather see more scholarships than a blanket offer of free access.

“I wouldn’t appreciate if the school offered me free tuition just because I’m a minority,” he said. “We should at least have to work hard for it.”

Jared Akers, a white student at the school, said the resolution was “odd” and that free access for blacks was unfair.

“That,” he said, “kind of seems like a handout more than doing them any favors.”

This isn’t about doing favors for anyone. It’s about exploiting racial tensions and shaping the malleable brains of college students to advance the cause of socialism.

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