White Privilege On Steroids. Smith College Alum's Letter "Too Many Lesbians and Women of Color"

[kpete]

TUE FEB 28, 2012 AT 10:59 AM PST
White Privilege On Steroids. Smith College Alum's Letter "Too Many Lesbians and Women of Color"
byVita BrevisFollow

.............

Anne, a Smith alum (Class of '84) is quite undone about her alma mater's current desirability as the college of choice for students in her social circle. I'm going to print Anne's letter to the college paper in its entirety. I believe it complies with fair use standards since it's a letter, and has been published in its entirety several other places.

To the Editor,
I am the president of the Smith Club of Westchester County. I enjoy reading the Sophian online because it helps me stay abreast of developments at the school.

...................................

The people who are attending Smith these days are A) lesbians or B) international students who get financial aid or C) low-income women of color who are the first generation in their family to go to college and will go to any school that gives them enough money. Carol emphasizes that this is one of her goals, and so that's why the school needs more money for scholarships or D) white heterosexual girls who can't get into Ivy League schools.

Smith no longer looks at SATs because if it did, it would have to report them to U.S. News & World Report. Low-income black and Hispanic students generally have lower SATs than whites or Asians of any income bracket. This is an acknowledged fact because they don't have access to expensive prep classes or private tutors.

To accomplish President Christ's mission of diversity, the school is underweighting SAT scores. This phenomenon has been widely discussed in the New York Times Education section. If you reduce your standards for grades and scores, you drop in the rankings, although you have accomplished a noble social objective. Smith has one of the highest diversity rates in the country.

I can tell you that the days of white, wealthy, upper-class students from prep schools in cashmere coats and pearls who marry Amherst men are over. This is unfortunate because it is this demographic that puts their name on buildings, donates great art and subsidizes scholarships.

-Anne Spurzem '84

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/28/1069113/-White-Privilege-On-Steroids-Smith-College-Alum-s-Letter-Too-Many-Lesbians-and-Women-of-Color-?via=siderec

[CTyankee]

1. My daughter is alum of Mount Holyoke, class of '86 and Anne's ilk wasn't all that prevalent in

those days. Holyoke was founded by a feminist of her day and age. My daughter was proud of that. She and her friends were strong feminists and certainly not snobs like Anne.

I have friends who went to Smith and they are older than Anne but not one bit like her...the poor dear is stuck in her little time warp and miserable. UGH...

[elleng]

2. UGH is RIGHT, yank!

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. Are we sure this lady wasn't in the class of 1884?

[zipplewrath]

4. She never says "Too many" anything

I'm not sure what her point is, overtly or otherwise, since she admits that the days of yore are "over". She laments that they are over, but it isn't exactly clear what she thinks should be different. She already admits they're only getting "...girls who can't geinto Ivy League Schools". Maybe she thinks they could, if they'd stop lowering score requirements, but I'm dubious that they can achieve that. Smith, like many (but not all) predominately/formerly all womens schools struggle in that "in between" world of Ivy League and State University. It's a tough niche and many if not most aren't doing that well.

[southernyankeebelle]

5. So this is the statement from a girl whose momma and daddy was able to buy her way into college.

Yet she is upset because other rich mommies and daddies can't buy their children into college any more. Hmmm interesting. To me that really is what her complaint is about.

[lapislzi]

6. What the effing f?

I'd share this with a colleague who's a recent Smith alum...but if she hasn't already read it, it will make her head explode, and I am rather fond of her, having mentored her since graduation.

[HockeyMom]

7. My daughter played college Ice Hockey

Were there women on the sports teams who were lesbians? Sure. Were there women on the hockey teams who were straight? Of course. Did it matter? Of course not. My daughter roomed with one team member who was a lesbian. Did she attack her? Absolutely not. In fact, she knew my older daughter was also a lesbian and was very comfortable with the fact that both her teammate, and family, accepted their family member for who she was. Did her teammate try to "recruit" her to the gay "lifesyle"? INSANE.


Gays are not recruited, they are born that way from birth. People need to understand, and ACCEPT, this fact. Until society does, and the younger generation generally has less of a problem, discrimination will not be eradicated.

[CTyankee]

15. My granddaughter plays Ice Hockey in boarding school. I am certain that she knows there are

some gay friends in her group, hockey team or no, and she doesn't care.

good lord.

[tabbycat31]

8. I attribute that to Westchester County more than Smith

There are so many like her in Westchester County, particularly the wealthier towns. There's a reason I no longer live there.

[randome]

9. Some privileged, maybe senile, whacko shouldn't be representative of anything.

Even Republicans wouldn't be that blatant.

[Initech]

10. Sounds like this woman is auditioning to be a Fox News commentator.

[lapislzi]

11. Note this gem of bigotry from the second paragraph:

Low-income black and Hispanic students generally have lower SATs than whites or Asians of any income bracket.

Thanks to my daughter for pointing that out. I was too busy seeing red to notice.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. "I am the president of the Smith Club of Westchester County" - not for much longer, I hope

With any luck, the members can vote this racist, homophobic elitist out for bringing the name of Smith into disrepute.

[AsahinaKimi]

13. I really hate arrogance. This is a fine example.

Damare kono baka yaro! Goman na hitoga kirada. Neboken Ja neyo.

[Liberal_in_LA]

14. "Smith Alum’s Nasty Letter Was Not Meant for Your Uncultured Eyes"

http://jezebel.com/5889034/smith-alums-nasty-letter-was-not-meant-for-your-uncultured-eyes/

Remember that letter Anne Spurzem wrote to her alma mater, Smith College, lamenting that "white, wealthy, upper-class students from prep schools in cashmere coats and pearls" were giving way to poor lesbians of color? Well, now she says we were never supposed to read it.

[tanyev]

16. Now there's a pearl-clutcher.

[niyad]

17. is there any proof this person actually attended smith?