Diversity bake sale mocks racial differences

In response to legislation students don’t like, UC Berkeley College Republicans are hosting a bake sale where whites are charged more for cupcakes and cookies than blacks or women.

California Governor Jerry Brown has legislation on his desk which would authorize state public universities to consider race, gender, ethnicity, and national or geographic origin in the admissions process. They believe any admission process based on race, rather than merit, is racist. To make their point, they’re holding a bake sale with the prices listed below.

The pricing structure of the baked goods is meant to be satirical, while urging students to think more critically about the implications of this policy. For any item, whites would pay $2, while Asians $1.50, $1 for Latinos, 50 cents for blacks, a quarter for Native Americans and women get an additional 25 cents off whatever price category they fall in.

University of Washington student Republicans have done this kind of bake sale a couple of times. For what it’s worth, their price structure: At the event, the UW Republicans sold chocolate-chip cookies at 25 cents for Native Americans, 30 cents for African Americans, 35 cents for Latinos, 50 cents for Pacific Islanders, 95 cents for Asian Americans and $1 for whites. Doughnuts were available for 50 cents to everyone except Asian Americans and whites.

Berkeley College Republicans say they’ll be selling baked items between 10 and 2 tomorrow. What they really want is not attention for the bake sale stunt, but a serious discussion of the way we view race in America, and whether some people should get a break getting into college because of the color of their skin.

“Obviously the satirical nature of the event was not received, so we felt it necessary to instead just put exactly what the point is,” Shawn Lewis, President of the Berkeley College Republicans, wrote on Facebook.

Many of the comments on Facebook support Lewis.

“Give university spots to those who proved they deserve it most, not those who only have passably decent grades but happen to be a minority,” says Stephanie Kwan.

“If people feel that this cupcake sale is racist, then they should be outraged by racial favoritism in the admissions process. True equality is about being equal, not saying everything is equal while the proverbial butcher holds his thumb on the scale,” writes Colin Garland.