As to the recommendation for anonymizing the results, from the info provided that would seem to be a non-starter since Bernadette, who holds the purse strings (remember that small detail? that it’s her private funds?) may refuse any measure that would render her unable to have final call on exclusion. She herself does state that she excludes generically in order to not have to make Thelma have to inquire on immigration status – which suggests that either the particular jurisdiction FEHS comes under may have some sort of rule that forces school authorities to keep hands off immigration status, or at least that Bernadette realizes doing so openly would have repercussions. (BTW, Thelma may or may not necessarily know of any animosity against illegal immigrants in Bernadette – and hey, what about non-Hispanic illegal immigrants? – but even if she suspected, she could have well gone into this presupposing, no damn way anyone in this day and age will dare start a program, even a private one, that is not EO-compliant…)
Thelma is limited to suggesting that the terms of the scholarship offer should be modified so as to make clear that the final award will be a non-objective judgment call, or at least become an explicitly Lower-Income-African-American-oriented program. She would withdraw the teachers and herself from any further involvement in designing application criteria (let Bernadette pay a consultant to come up with it) and could keep making it available as just one more scholarship offer, posted at the Guidance Counselor’s office with a disclaimer that it’s an external private program not officially connected to FEHS’s or the District’s authorities.
As Aanamika mentioned, Bernadette’s main fauls may be a breach of interpersonal ethics, having dragged Thelma into it (and through her the school personnel who designed “objective” elegibility criteria, implicitly gaining the appearance of official school endorsement) without intending to give her the whole picture. She could have instead simply said look, there’ll be an offer of scholarships open to students in the top 10% of the class who are from families below the poverty line, and the award will be based on a judgment that’ll be mine alone. Have the application papers at the counselor’s office and let those interested apply.
And never mind the “wetback” comment, it’s atrocious judgment to not have waited until safely out of her friend’s presence to start her culling – seems that over the years as a big shot she grew too accustomed to being able to tell people “you’re better off not knowing” … .
(BTW, friends or not, IMO it would have been wise if someone at the School District’s legal division should have had a look into the whole deal first – before drafting teachers in to design the program, and I suspect many of them would have said, if the award is not EO-compliant, it has to be run w/o school personnel involvement)
I think Bernadette should just make the award at a Canadian hotel, offering an all expenses paid weekend there to every winner in celebration of their triumph - but they must fly.
To Skald’s question on Church, I would be ok with it, and further - I would recommend that you keep it a secret.
Why isn’t she looking at any other non Hispanic names then?It may be a guidance but she is making the assumption that a person with a Hispanic name is more likely to be an illegal immigrant. And throwing around the term “wetback” would be unacceptable were I in Thelma’s position.
I would first ask Bernadette about her motives. If her goal is simply to exclude illegal immigrants, then I would suggest other ways of determining someone’s immigration status, and possibly offer to help in that matter. Restricting a scholarship to legal residents isn’t something I personally would do, but I don’t find it inherently morally odious.
If, however, the motive were simply to exclude Hispanics but allow others, regardless of immigration status, then I would tell Bernadette that she’s free to make that decision, but that I can’t allow myself or my school to be a part of the process. I’d then take whatever legal steps are appropriate to sever the school’s official involvement (I don’t know exactly what those steps would be, but there was presumably a lawyer working for the school district involved already). If Bernadette refuses to offer the scholarship without school involvement or with measures to ensure lack of bias (like the serial numbers instead of names), then that’s unfortunate, but I still can’t be a part of it.
In either case, this would be a serious blow to the friendship. I can’t say whether it would end it entirely without knowing a lot more (i.e., the full experience of many years of the friendship), but sources point to it being the end.
That’s not quite the assumption Bernadette is making, though. She’s assuming that illegals are most likely to be of Hispanic origin, and she’s willing to discount those who may not be simply for convenience. Anyway I wasn’t saying she isn’t a bigot–just that she’s not a raging one.
Agreed… which makes me think I’m missing something here… Bernadette seems to think that having a requirement for citizenship would get her friend in trouble (as opposed to what’s going to happen when the secret gets out).
Are you saying you’reTaking It Back? Because that’s just disingenuous. “Wetback” is an ethnic slur against Mexicans (and I’m sure most people who would use it don’t give a damn if those Mexicans are legal or not. Or even if they are Mexicans, as opposed to Hispanic Americans of the 10th generation)
I am. Humiliation works just fine as a tool for social engineering. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant” for social ills
There may well be a legal difference between “targeted only at X” vs “targeted at everyone except X”, however.
Also - is it legal to have a scholarship targeted only at whites?
Which leads me to the question: If you can have a scholarship targeted only at people of African descent, for example, why can’t you have one for whites only? Even ignoring the legality, it sounds (from a moral standpoint) fine to have one for a minority group only but NOT fine for a member of the majority.
Which I don’t object to, just trying to figure out whether that’s in its own way a sort of reverse discrimination.
Oh - and drop that friend like a hot potato. The price of that scholarship is too damn high.
Bernadette clearly has not thought things through, or is a bitch (there’s not enough information in the OP to determine which is true). It is not her declining to give the scholarships to illegals or even Hispanics that is the trouble; it’s having the school be involved if she’s doing the latter. That’s going to be discrimination by a public entity, which Thelma can’t be involved in.
If it’s being put up by a private entity, I don’t know why such a scholarship wouldn’t be legal. For that matter, I don’t think it SHOULD be illegal for a private entity to give a scholarship only to whites.
How is humiliating Bernadette for holding beliefs that harm no one (and bear in mind, she is not harming anyone; she is declining to help certain persons, which is not the same thing) any different than shaming gays for their sexuality?
Bernadette has the right to decide where to spend her money, even if her motives for said decisions are misguided or odious. Are you going to argue that she, a private person spending personal funds, should be forced to extend charity to anyone other than the persons she chooses?
Only wanting to provide a scholarship for citizens is not harming anyone. I’m with you on that, it’s bigoted but not harmful.
Calling Hispanics “Wetbacks” is harming someone. Many someones - all of society, in fact. It’s identical to any other ethnic slur.
Being against bigots is not the same as being a bigot yourself.
Yes. she unquestionably has that right.
She does not have the right to have it pass uncommented on.
Yes. For a given value of “force” - I’d be against legislating that what she wants to do should be illegal, for instance. But your OP wasn’t about the legalities, it was about the moralities, I thought.
