Aftermath of the Affirmative Action decision today, with students and Administrators generally beaming about it.

Lets quickly skip over Mr. Cruz and Ms. Felarca's op-ed on the subject, except to note that

This victory at the Supreme Court provides the legal basis to launch a challenge to Proposition 209, and we are determined to organize the movement in California and the nation to raze Proposition 209 to the ground

is nonsense... the decision allows forms of Affirmative Action but hardly requires it. As before, the only way to return straight-up Aff. Am to California is to vote to overturn 209, something no one in the state has any stomach for. Rhetoric aside, this is a defensive victory, not an extension of Aff. Am. in America.

But what really tees me off is Chancellor Berdahl's endorsement of the lame 'Aff. Am. helps whities too' argument.

"Students educated in an entirely homogenous environment derive less from their education than do those who learn in a diverse, heterogeneous environment," said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl in a statement.

Generally speaking, Cal has made me more cynical about racial unity. What I've learned about other cultures, Asian and Jewish ones aside, is slim. What I've learned about racial politics and self-segregation has been mountains. The ASUC and ASUC Elections practice narrow appeals to not only ethnic groups, but different religious sentiments and majors. Living arrangements are normally segregated on a racial basis. Even God is worshipped by segmented ethnicities.

Certainly my personal lack of knowledge is mostly because I've made little effort to learn about other cultures. And if I really wanted to, I could. But almost no one wants to. That's the most depressing part of all. Given the opportunity, the collection of ethnicities that enter Cal don't seek to learn about other cultures. They don't even not care about the subject. Most of them actively seek out self-segregation. I can hardly blame them. But is this supposed to inspire me about diversity?

Defenders and the Chancellor could respond that when minority numbers are so tiny and majority numbers so overwhelming, the minority students are besieged by gobs of white people and the majority students barely notice them. So the minority students want to stick together for mutual aid and solidarity and the majority students have few opportunities to even see any around. This is probable, although I'm not sure what level of Affirmative Action would be necessary to stabilize the problem. Probably a lot of it.

But if the Chancellor had any idea that was the problem, presumably his deepfelt need for diversity would push him to do something about it. The other solution to low racial understanding, besides heavily upping the numbers of minorities, is to create opportunities for cultural understanding. But the Administration doesn't do jack for racial understanding. About the extent of it is a few speaker series and some African-American step shows, plus the occasional press release when things get tense.

Either the Chancellor has no idea how embarassingly self-segregated his campus is, or he doesn't give a damn. And if he doesn't give a damn, he should stop praising the supposed benefits of racial diversity when his status quo is a practical but cynical level of self-segregation and student disinterest in other cultures.

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