My letter to Texas, plus my summary of the BigTex situation

[Javert]

If you're confused about what's happened vis a vis BigTex and want to know what's going on, check out my blog post here:

http://www.sisyph.us/blog/archives/2005/03/does_the_univer.html

I tried to be fair in my summary, but I may have left out important details. Please let me know if I missed anything crucial to understanding the issue at hand. I'll post back in a new thread when and if I receive a response from TPTB at Texas.


[Note: I realize this bears a resemblance to blog whoring. However, please note that I only posted this because I thought it would be of real interest to the LSD community at large]

[TradeWonk]

Um, the first  thing they teach you in law school is to read entire paragraphs, not to mention entire sentences.  It was already established (on another thread - the one about "school X") that Tex f'd up.  The complete application instructions (as opposed to your ghetto edited version) left room for him to submit information.  Given he was guilty of a lie of omission (at the very best) without the addendum, he should have sent it.  Or perhaps he shouldn't have claimed to be hispanic because of a non-blood relative.  I've got plenty of black relatives and that doesn't make me black.  Just like I've got a mom and a sister, but that doesn't make me a women.

Let's end this whole stupid "Ohhhh the injustice" crusade and get back to talking about interesting things.

[ilsox7]

Um, the first  thing they teach you in law school is to read entire paragraphs, not to mention entire sentences.  It was already established (on another thread - the one about "school X") that Tex f'd up.  The complete application instructions (as opposed to your ghetto edited version) left room for him to submit information.  Given he was guilty of a lie of omission (at the very best) without the addendum, he should have sent it.  Or perhaps he shouldn't have claimed to be hispanic because of a non-blood relative.  I've got plenty of black relatives and that doesn't make me black.  Just like I've got a mom and a sister, but that doesn't make me a women.

Let's end this whole stupid "Ohhhh the injustice" crusade and get back to talking about interesting things.

Of course everyone seems to be missing the point of all of this.  The reason UT started calling other schools is b/c Tex claimed on LSD to have sent an addendum to all of the schools he applied to.  When in fact, he sent it to all but 1 school.  It didn't have anything to do with him checking or not checking a box.  It had to do with his honestly regarding whether or not he sent an addendum to each and every school he applied to.

[TradeWonk]

Um, the first  thing they teach you in law school is to read entire paragraphs, not to mention entire sentences.  It was already established (on another thread - the one about "school X") that Tex f'd up.  The complete application instructions (as opposed to your ghetto edited version) left room for him to submit information.  Given he was guilty of a lie of omission (at the very best) without the addendum, he should have sent it.  Or perhaps he shouldn't have claimed to be hispanic because of a non-blood relative.  I've got plenty of black relatives and that doesn't make me black.  Just like I've got a mom and a sister, but that doesn't make me a women.

Let's end this whole stupid "Ohhhh the injustice" crusade and get back to talking about interesting things.

Of course everyone seems to be missing the point of all of this.  The reason UT started calling other schools is b/c Tex claimed on LSD to have sent an addendum to all of the schools he applied to.  When in fact, he sent it to all but 1 school.  It didn't have anything to do with him checking or not checking a box.  It had to do with his honestly regarding whether or not he sent an addendum to each and every school he applied to.

I'm calling BS on that.  He didn't sign a certifying statement to anything he wrote on LSD, so there is no grounds for them to make an honesty issue out of it.  If that's what Tex is saying, he's keeping secrets.  Reagrdless, either we don't have all the facts, OR, Tex screwed up and did something stupid (in addition to the boneheaded idea of claiming to be a URM).

[ilsox7]

I'm calling BS on that.  He didn't sign a certifying statement to anything he wrote on LSD, so there is no grounds for them to make an honesty issue out of it.  If that's what Tex is saying, he's keeping secrets.  Reagrdless, either we don't have all the facts, OR, Tex screwed up and did something stupid (in addition to the boneheaded idea of claiming to be a URM).

I've talked to te xpersonally about this and this was the original issue.

[ilsox7]

Concur on the BS.  Seriously, 35 schools?  Not outside the realm of possibility that something just got left out accidentally.

In which case, again, the school should contact the applicant.  Not his mom, not his employer, not his rabbi, and certainly not the other schools he applied to.

This is exactly why it's so absurd what UT actually did.

[TDPookie1]

Um, the first  thing they teach you in law school is to read entire paragraphs, not to mention entire sentences.  It was already established (on another thread - the one about "school X") that Tex f'd up.  The complete application instructions (as opposed to your ghetto edited version) left room for him to submit information.  Given he was guilty of a lie of omission (at the very best) without the addendum, he should have sent it.  Or perhaps he shouldn't have claimed to be hispanic because of a non-blood relative.  I've got plenty of black relatives and that doesn't make me black.  Just like I've got a mom and a sister, but that doesn't make me a women.

Let's end this whole stupid "Ohhhh the injustice" crusade and get back to talking about interesting things.

it hasn't really been established that tex screwed up.  that's the opinion of some LSDers, and we're not on the adcomm, and it's not for us to decide whether he screwed up (though we're certainly free to discuss and have our own opinions; it just doesn't *establish* anything).

perhaps you missed all the posts where the gov't says that hispanic is an ethnicity, not a race, and that people of any race can be hispanic.  i'm really sick of the retarded hyperboles of "i went to cancun; am i mexican?" "i have a mother; am i woman?"  if you really think that's a logical comparison to tex being adopted and absorbed into an extended hispanic family, get ready to be at the bottom of your law school class.

[ilsox7]

Pookster is on the prawl!

[TradeWonk]

Concur on the BS.  Seriously, 35 schools?  Not outside the realm of possibility that something just got left out accidentally.

In which case, again, the school should contact the applicant.  Not his mom, not his employer, not his rabbi, and certainly not the other schools he applied to.

This is exactly why it's so absurd what UT actually did.

You honestly don't get it, do you?  Are you telling me that UT is mad that he told people on some chat board that he sent all schools an addendum, BUT you also believe that UT doesn't care that without the addendum he clearly lied on his application?  You honestly don't think it's about the lie on his application, which he signed and certified, but you do think it's about a website?  And just because tex told you directly doesn't make it any more true than if he told you on LSD.  Clearly if you read entire UT application he was allowed to include an addendum.  AND clearly if you check a box claiming to be hispanic, knowing it's a dubious claim at best without some BS argument about your non-blood relatives, it will be, in fact, a lie.  Again, numerically speaking over half of my family is black.  Also, numerically speaking, over half my family are women.  Does this give me any right to check the "black" and "women" boxes on an application?  Maybe if I'm an idiot and want to include some far-fetched addendum.  But if I somehow decide the addendum is not allowed (even though the application clearly says it is) then I better just go ahead and check "caucasion" because anything else would be a lie.  And might get me in trouble with law schools.  And the Bar.  In fact, if I were tex the bar three years from now would be my greatest concern.  If he were smart he would have kept his mouth shut after getting nailed and not started this additional firestorm which will only bring him more unwanted attention.

So, if you like tex you ain't doing him a favor by turning this into a big deal.  Likewise, if you think he's a lying bonehead (though I don't necessarily have all the facts and I could be wrong) you're tired of hearing about it.  Either way let's drop it.

[TradeWonk]

Um, the first  thing they teach you in law school is to read entire paragraphs, not to mention entire sentences.  It was already established (on another thread - the one about "school X") that Tex f'd up.  The complete application instructions (as opposed to your ghetto edited version) left room for him to submit information.  Given he was guilty of a lie of omission (at the very best) without the addendum, he should have sent it.  Or perhaps he shouldn't have claimed to be hispanic because of a non-blood relative.  I've got plenty of black relatives and that doesn't make me black.  Just like I've got a mom and a sister, but that doesn't make me a women.

Let's end this whole stupid "Ohhhh the injustice" crusade and get back to talking about interesting things.

it hasn't really been established that tex screwed up.  that's the opinion of some LSDers, and we're not on the adcomm, and it's not for us to decide whether he screwed up (though we're certainly free to discuss and have our own opinions; it just doesn't *establish* anything).

perhaps you missed all the posts where the gov't says that hispanic is an ethnicity, not a race, and that people of any race can be hispanic.  i'm really sick of the retarded hyperboles of "i went to cancun; am i mexican?" "i have a mother; am i woman?"  if you really think that's a logical comparison to tex being adopted and absorbed into an extended hispanic family, get ready to be at the bottom of your law school class.

He was absorbed by a hispanic family?  You make Hispanics sound like amoebas?  I'm assuming then that you really wouldn't have a problem with me checking "African American" on my application then.  Wow.  Cultural relativism to its retarded extreme.