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Show .THE Affirmative action at U outdated, directionless of philosophies when he said, "affirmative action is saying do what you can to increase diversity but (equal opportunity is) not going to give you the (legal) tools to do that." Again and again, he repeated the letter and the spirit of the CRA of 1964, protecting equality of opportunity and not of resulting racial outcomes, yet in an example that demonstrated the conflict between the two ideas, he said the university "ought to factor in a (faculty) applicant's diverse y character" when given two applicants of what he called "equal qualification." He further posed the option of selectively advertising the position in, say, "the Asian Journal of Engineers." Both techniques violate the spirit and letter of the CRA of 1964, and yet this is the very document that the U's HR department references as its racial policy for faculty selection. Remembering for a moment the director's example, where he assumes that the U can get away with selectively giving the scarce resource of information more to one group and less to another, calling an applicant's race his or her "diverse character" while also awkwardly expecting that there can be two individuals of "equal qualification," there still stands the understudied idea that U administrators are able to play society's arbiter of equality, its troubleshooter and big brother. In the famous Supreme Court case Regents of the University of Cali. fornia v. Bakke case in 1978, Justice Lewis Powell expressed his concern about how anyone could equitably omewhere near the top of the list of contradictory, old and stillactive policies on university and government books—such as the Civilian Conservation Corps of 1933, aimed at ending Great Depression unemployment or Connecticut's Temporary State Housing Rent Commission of 1942, aimed at controlling WWII rent prices—sits the U policy for hiring faculty: affirmative action. U administrators and lawmakers share a mutual dilemma in that they have little^ incentive to end it, despite the terms "temporary" or "merely corrective" that accompanied the policy when it was first conceived. Before the passage of affirmative action legislation in the late '60s with President Lyndon B. Johnson and then in the '70s with President Richard Nixon, then-Sen. Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota assured the United States that the final draft of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would make it illegal to carry out inequitable laws such as affirmative action by not "requir(ing) an employer to achieve any kind of racial balance in his work force." He said subsection 703(1) under Title VII of trie act states this point "expressly.'*' Its exact words declare that nothing requires employers to "grant preferential treatment to any individual or group on account of any imbalance" with respect to number of employees in such groups "in comparison with the total number or percentage of persons of such race, color, religion (and) sex." Furthermore, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution expressly prohibits S August 2009 DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE C6 Not-so-silly crime shows importance of dorm safety ollege is all about having fun, hangZACK ing out with friends, OAKEY ALICIA going to parties and performing stupid WILLIAMS pranks. We've all seen First-year medical student the movies portray—• ing college life as one Senior, English and endless joke, but when Communication it comes to committing crimes, especially against women, nosecured access buildings. Babody is laughing. sically, they have swipe-card In June, an unnamed female entrances. However, anyone U student bravely reported can tailgate you into the waking up in her Benchmark building. I know it's uncool dorm to find a man pilfering to ask r< person following you through her panty drawer. into your building if they My first reading of the news have a card, but do it: "Hey, had me rolling my eyes and what room are you in?" or even letting out a little giggle, "Are you visiting someone?" but then I thought about the Take the time to question woman and the shock and people you don't know. Refear she must have felt findmember, your stuff could just ing a man in her dark bedas easily come up missing. room. And I thought about Next, lock all doors. You're how her once-safe world was not in Kansas anymore. All shattered by a man invading you have to do is look around her private space. campus to notice, a lot of This was no prank. Breaking into another person's bedroom to steal anystates from thing, even underwear, denying "to any person within its is a crime. And because jurisdiction-equal protection." That the guy in this particular includes non-minority and minority crime was never caught, individuals and groups. we might never know The U Division of Human Resourcif it was a silly es states on its website its commitprank, a dare or ment to "removing barriers...from if he was a sick underrepresented groups" and these and twisted laws and their claimed "temporary" man with a nature are completely ignored as they perverted have been nationally. panty feThorn Loveridge, director of the tish. Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action and associate vice What we president for Human Relations, admitdo know is See POLICY Page CIO ted a legal difficulty and a conflict that this guy is showing the U campus a huge, neon warning sign that says he is comfortable with sneaking into others' rooms and taking their things. This people here are not students. situation is a perfect exTRAX conveniently departs ample of what not to do, and from downtown and can posit should serve as a safety sibly bring unsavory individreminder for all of us. uals directly to campus. The U student apartments The dorm room doors open are supposed to be within off of long halls to common areas shared by the tenants. Always lock this door, not just for your safety, but also for your roommates. If anyone loses a key, tell him or her to get it replaced immediately. Nobody should leave doors unlocked because their roomies don't have their keys. Also, each individual's bedroom has a locking door. Even though you're all friends and you love and trust each other, never leave your bedroom door unlocked. These are simple, easy safety tips our mothers have drilled into our brains since we were old enough to stay home alone. Why then, when you are far from home, would you not do it? Often you're tired, or you forget, you might feel safe or maybe you're just used to having others do it for you. But now is the most important time of your life because you are responsible for yourself. You can't afford to make mistakes. "Students' view of the Affordable Birth Control world and the choices that they make are the single most deciding factor on their safeEmergency Contraception ty," said Sgt. Arb Nordgran photo by TJtom Gourley of the U Police Department. (EC/morning after pill/Plan B) "People tend to bring up that this was a silly crime, but how many other times have Free Condoms ladies been raped in their bedrooms? It wasn't silly." Subscribe - www.saltlakeactingcompany.org Testing and Treatment of Thankfully, the woman from Benchmark Pla&a wasn't Sexualy Transmitted Infection 801-363-7522 Student Subscriptions - $54 - $66 seriously hurt, though I'm sure she will never forget that night and neither should any and more... of us. We need to all rememAll services are confidential ber that our actions have By: Harold Pinter 9/16-10/11 By: Kathleen Cahill 4/14-5/9 consequences, as well as our ' lack of action. We must be diligent in the care and conBy: Keith Reddln & Meg Gibson 2/ 3 - 2/28 by Nancy Borgenitht S Al Nevins 6/29-8/29 cern with our personal safety and fellow students. Don't allow the few wackos out there an opportunity to play their 168 West 500 North, SLC 84103 sick games. Be smart and stay EOUALITYUTAH safe. letters@chronicle.utah.edu C the face of SLAC salt lake company when you have season tickets,you'll come The Caretaker Charm Too Much Memory Saturday's Voyeur |, PLANNED •. PARENTHOOD •.- vmJO.PIAN |