Ivy League Conservatives

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Yesterday Deroy Murdock spoke at Dartmouth College about discrimination. Not black-white-legal-illegal discrimination, but the act of discrimination itself, a phenomenon he calls a “fact of life.” A surprising perspective, considering Murdock is both black and gay. Here is the crux of Murdock’s remarks, from TheDartmouth.com:

Murdock, who is black and gay, supports the right of American businesses to discriminate in the private sector, he said, but added that the government should guarantee all rights to the best of its ability, ensuring equal protection under law. It is when the federal government interferes in the practices of private businesses that problems begin, especially when no form of discrimination has actually taken place, he said.

For example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission intervened when it determined that the hiring practices of Joe’s Stone Crab, a seafood restaurant in Miami Beach, Fla., did not have enough female waitresses. The female owner of the restaurant claimed that few women applied for serving positions because the serving trays were often too heavy to lift and the restaurant was located in an unsafe part of town. The EEOC framed the lack of female applicants, however, as “unintentional discrimination,” saying that the restaurant had a reputation for hiring male servers. As a result, the restaurant was forced to have a psychologist on hand during the interview process and film videos about workplace sensitivity.

Additionally, government interference can result in unequal treatment of races, he said, citing the case of an Indian-American student who was denied admission to a private school because the minority quotas at the school inflated the necessary test scores to gain acceptance. The girl’s scores would have qualified her for admission had she been white, Murdock said.

“I find this thing pernicious, disgusting and highly demeaning,” he said, stating that raising or lowering workplace or academic standards to meet race quotas does not benefit minority groups.

Forced acts of integration in the workplace are similarly ineffective, Murdock said, because organizations that represent unique demographics may be forced to homogenize their workplace populations.

Sounds about right to me. Your thoughts?