I am sick and tired of listening to people spout out lies and myths about affirmative action in attempts to justify their false idea that eliminating it will be creating "equality."

In Shane Krouse's recent State News column ("Affirmative action promotes inequality; college acceptance should be hard-earned," SN 5/24), he presents two glaringly incorrect assumptions: Affirmative action is a point system, and it is truly just racial quotas.

Both of these statements are, quite frankly, blatant lies.

In the 2003 Supreme Court decision, Gratz v. Bollinger, point systems used for entrance into higher education institutions were struck down. However, that same year, the Grutter v. Bollinger decision affirmed that diversity is a compelling interest in a student's education and upheld affirmative action procedures that lie outside a strict point system.

Krouse's random quoting of numbers and points are insubstantial, not only because he gives no basis for their comparison, but also because that is not what affirmative action is.

As for racial quotas, this is a scare tactic that opponents of affirmative action use. In truth, quotas are illegal under current law, and this is not what affirmative action is.

I don't have space to go into all the other problems with Krouse's misconceptions, but for those wishing to learn more about affirmative action, check out: http://www.oneunitedmichigan.org/InfoKit/Q&A.pdf.

Erik Green
English senior