It sounds great… I’ve just been invited to attend the 17th Annual Minority Academic Awards Ceremony. But I won’t be going. You may be thinking, why not?

Let me preface this by saying that I’m Mexican-American. Both of my parents are of Mexican descent, and, in fact, my dad became a U.S. citizen a few years back. So I guess you could say I’m in the minority. Also, my GPA is considerably above 3.0, so I qualify to be invited to the awards ceremony. Now I’ll tell you why I’m not going, but first let me make two simple points:

1. Having a GPA above 3.0 is no small feat, as many of you can attest. I’ve made every effort to attend class regularly, I’ve spent many hours at the library as well as at home studying, and I’ve sacrificed other areas of my life in order to excel academically. I’m proud of my GPA because it reflects all the hard work I’ve put into it. I’m sure many of you feel the same way about your GPA.

So I think it’s awesome that SMU wants to celebrate all of us for our academic achievement –

Well, some of us anyway…

2. I was born Mexican-American. I can’t change that. Nor can you change your ethnic background. You can’t change from being born Hispanic, African-American, Caucasian, Asian or any other ethnicity, to an ethnicity of a different type. It’s impossible…Got that? Good.

Now let’s get to the problem.

The 17th Annual Minority Academic Awards Ceremony doesn’t honor everyone. It only recognizes ethnic minorities. What’s wrong with that? Well, what about everyone who isn’t a minority? Hypothetical example: All things being equal, if I still put in the same amount of hard work, and had the same GPA, but I was in the majority (i.e. Caucasian), then I wouldn’t be invited to the celebration.

Is that a problem?

Yes.

Does that seem fair?

No.

What does that sound like?

Discrimination.

To prove my point, let’s turn the tables around: Suppose we change the word “minority” to “majority,” and had an awards ceremony to celebrate only those people that had a specific GPA and were in the majority (read: white). What would the reaction be? There would protests! There would be accusations of discrimination and racism! And rightly so, because it indeed would be racist and discriminatory to honor one group of students but not the other, soley based on their ethnicity or race.

I know what some of you might be saying, “But people in the minority have been discriminated against in the past, they came from low-income families, they didn’t have the same opportunities as those in the majority, so they have it much harder than those in the majority,” or something to that effect. My answer: yes, many of those things are true and might have happened. But in essence, what you are doing is perpetuating a stereotype that all minorities come from poor families or had it harder than people in the majority, etc. While it may be true for some, it’s not true for all. It’s the same stereotype, but in the opposite direction, that all people in the majority are rich, and have such easy lives, and never have to work for anything. Once again, while that may be true for some, its not true for all. Both stereotypes are wrong.

Now, just think about it. If I’m white and have a GPA above 3.0, I don’t get anything special. But, if I’m Hispanic, Asian or African-American and have a GPA above 3.0, then SMU invites me to a ceremony where I’ll be honored for my academic achievement. So what do you think SMU is really saying when it does this? I can think of two things:

1. SMU believes that white students are smarter, because it’s no big deal for a white student to have a GPA above 3.0, but it’s a great accomplishment for a minority student to have a GPA above 3.0.

2. SMU approves of racial discrimination because it fails to invite a group of students who meet all necessary requirements, except of course, skin color and ethnicity.

No, I don’t think SMU actually believes in the two statements listed above. I believe that SMU and all of the people involved meant well and had the best of intentions when putting this ceremony together,but by having an awards ceremony that only celebrates the academic achievement of certain groups of people, it sure comes across that way.

In the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have dream speech,” he dreamt of a society in which we would not judge people based on race or ethnicity but on individual qualifications and merits. By limiting who is honored and who isn’t solely based on where they came from, SMU is going against Dr. King’s vision.

I want to be recognized for my academic achievement as a student at SMU, not my academic achievement as a minority at SMU.

Wouldn’t it be better to honor everyone who demonstrates academic achievement, regardless of what ethnicity they were? Of course! So, until SMU honors everyone who puts in the same amount of hard work I did to earn a high GPA, I won’t be attending.

About the writer:

Rodolfo Alexander Gonzalez is a junior computer engineering major. He can be reached at: ragonzal@smu.edu.