Tempers Flare at Anti-Diversity Speech by Richard Spencer

Conservative speaker Richard Spencer presented his case against affirmative action policies to Vanderbilt students last night in Furman Hall.

“I would say the biggest lie at the heart of our society is affirmative action and civil rights enforcement legislation,” Spencer said. “Affirmative action is anti-white discrimination, period.”

According to Spencer, the executive editor of AlternativeRight.com, adherence to affirmative action policies decreases institutional standards, threatens national security and weakens the economy.

“Institutions have ceased to perform their functions,” Spencer said. “University systems have become sites of social engineering. Most people don’t go to undergraduate universities to learn.”

During his presentation, Spencer illustrated his point with charts displaying the achievement disparities between whites and blacks of different economic backgrounds. The figures indicated that whites in the poorest income bracket perform as well as blacks in the highest income bracket on standardized tests.

Graduate student Sandy Skeen asked Spencer to explain the differences in achievement between the races.

“I am not a scientist, but I would say that genetics has something to do with it,” Spencer said.

Those in attendance used the question and answer period to challenge Spencer’s arguments and credentials.

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In response, Spencer said that it is typical of students of leftist institutions to take an elitist approach and demand his degree in the subject.

Freshman Itoro Udoko asked Spencer how he would correct 300 years of social injustice against black in America.

“Should we also go after the descendants of the Africans who originally enslaved the blacks that were sent to America,” Spencer asked. “How does slavery make you not able to take a test?”

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“I am shocked at the racism that is coming from the speaker and his lack of credentials,” said sophomore Arthurine Zakama.

The event was sponsored by Youth for Western Civilization, an activist group committed to restoring Western culture on college campuses, according to the organization’s website.

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