Three cheers for racism

Apparently not everyone thinks it's such a good idea that Southern universities are trying to distance themselves from certain aspects of their Southern heritage -- namely slavery, or the Klan -- in an attempt to make their campuses more attractive to prospective students from minority groups and other parts of the country.

"I think they ought to leave it the way it is," said Dr. David W. Aiken, an alumnus who is an orthopedic surgeon in Metairie, La. "I wouldn't be for changing anything. I think they're doing quite well. What is the purpose of making it a more national school? Do I want kids from California, New York coming there? Not really."

Right, because the whole point of the academy is to create a cloistered environment where students and faculty won't be exposed to diverse viewpoints and feel comfortable with frank exploration of weighty issues. That sounds like my kind of university.

Honestly, this whole "the Confederacy is part of our heritage" song and dance is about 140 years out of date. You don't exactly see German universities retaining swastikas in their logos and keeping buildings named for Hitler, Goebbels, etc., with the candy-ass excuse that "the Third Reich is part of our history."

Sure, Nazism is a part of German history, just like the Confederacy is for the South. But Germans tend not to draw attention to the fact that their forerunners murdered 12 million Jews and members of other undesirable groups, since most people prefer not to glorify tyrannical, racist regimes.

And that whole argument about how the Confederacy represented states rights is just window dressing. Yeah, the Confederacy wanted to protect states rights. Like the right to hold hundreds of thousands of people in bondage simply due to the color of their skin.

But hey, if you want to keep touting your "heritage," go right ahead. You keep your Stars and Bars and your white gowns. Just keep on calling attention to your bigotry.