In Monday’s edition of The Lantern there was an article on the front page saying a University of Michigan representative was using the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. to aid in his argument. Aside from the obvious hypocritical statement saying that “people should be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin” and giving people “points” for being a certain ethnicity, this article is very disturbing.

I will grant you the fact that we are not there yet – we are not to the point where everyone is treated equally. However, giving an advantage to any race or ethnicity over another has always been wrong and always will be. Just because affirmative action helps out minorities doesn’t mean it’s right or even “less wrong.” Wrong is wrong and all affirmative action does is increase racism.

Think about it for a second: When you see that little box on the admission application that says race, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Your first thought is how will this affect my ability to get 1) accepted and 2) get the financial aid I need.

The odd thing about all of this is that the federal government views Appalachian Americans as disadvantaged because of their location and the economics of that area. However, when it comes to a matter of skin color it doesn’t matter if your father is Colin Powell or Michael Jordan – you still get aid because of the color of your skin, not because you actually need it (I think we can all agree that Jordan’s kids probably don’t need money for school).

I charge that Ohio State stop being a follower and start being a leader; stop race-based admissions. Diversity is not defined by someone’s race, although OSU would have you believe it is. Diversity – the fact or quality of being different – is more a by-product of geography and economics than race, and until people actually believe that, there will always be racism.

In closing, OSU and almost every other university in the U.S. supports this form of racism. Every time they give any advantage to a person solely based on the color of their skin they are being racist, and I am sure that is something that Martin Luther King Jr. would not support nor tolerate – especially not with his name attached to it.

Tim McCainjunior in mechanical engineering