Anyone Heard of Academic Initiative Action (AIA)?

[non parata est]

Wait... tell me again how a scholarship based on dedicating your life to little recognition and no pay is the same as an admissions boost based on race?

[bl825]

Wait... tell me again how a scholarship based on dedicating your life to little recognition and no pay is the same as an admissions boost based on race?

Well I suppose that one might argue that like race-based AA programs, they're intended at least in part to add diversity to the student body (though in this instance diversity of intended career paths) and to thereby enrich the academic experience for all.

Or something.  I forget the exact wording that people have used in the past, but I know others have said it better.

[non parata est]

Wait... tell me again how a scholarship based on dedicating your life to little recognition and no pay is the same as an admissions boost based on race?

Well I suppose that one might argue that like race-based AA programs, they're intended at least in part to add diversity to the student body (though in this instance diversity of intended career paths) and to thereby enrich the academic experience for all.

That's a fine answer (really, I'm not being facetious).  But LawDog seems to be saying that they're equivalent based not on their ultimate benefit to the student body as a whole, but on their benefit to individual students.

I'm not suggesting that whites should female dog about AA, but LawDog shouldn't pretend that he's discovered some magic "AA for Everyone."

[bl825]

Oh no, I wasn't trying to support LawDog's position.  I was saying that there is a similarity that could be pointed out, but that it's just not the one that he's trying to argue exists. 

Sorry for the confusion. 

[non parata est]

Oh no, I wasn't trying to support LawDog's position.  I was saying that there is a similarity that could be pointed out, but that it's just not the one that he's trying to argue exists. 

Sorry for the confusion. 

Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that you were supporting it.  Blech.  I can see how that would be upsetting.

[bl825]

I'll try not to hold it against you too much. 

[heartbreaker]

And the "AIA" acronym is my own, but the schools practicing it all have different names for it.

This was my favorite part of the thread so far. It basically renders the subject as "has anyone ever heard of this thing I made up and isn't based in reality?"

[bl825]

And the "AIA" acronym is my own, but the schools practicing it all have different names for it.

This was my favorite part of the thread so far. It basically renders the subject as "has anyone ever heard of this thing I made up and isn't based in reality?"

Kind of like how he creates his own definition of fraud, then asks if people who engage in the conduct that he labels fraud are committing fraud.

[Pop Up Video]

Oh my god your monumental stupidity makes me want to cry. Please see the bios of, for example, IILJ scholars at NYU below. Please tell me which ones of those are anything less than stellar candidates:

http://www.iilj.org/aboutus/iilj_scholars.asp

Yes, you're right, NYU is a fantastic institution.

[bl825]

Just to be fair to LawDog (and if you asked me why I bother trying, I'd have to say I don't know), it actually might not be a bad idea for schools to adopt programs where they gave applicants an admissions bump if they accepted binding commitments to work in areas that the school deemed important yet underserved.  I just don't think this is what the schools like UCLA and NYU are doing at the moment (they're primarily trying to steal students who are likely to go to other, higher-ranked schools).