Brian Chatwin
Staff Writer
The theory of moral relativity is the underlying factor to moral corruption in our society. For those who may not know, moral relativity is the belief that as long as your actions do not affect me in any way you can do as you please. The problem with this theory is that nobody lives in a vacuum, and every action has a reaction that can ripple through society in unseen ways.
For example, the marijuana user might believe that his occasional joint has no effect on anyone else— that the drug is just for his own personal enjoyment and that it is OK because “no one gets hurt.” What he doesn’t see is the horrific effects of the blood money that is used to deliver the product from the field to his fingertips.
Decriminalizing the drug isn’t the answer because it only increases demand. For example, the Netherlands made the decision to legalize prostitution, intending to regulate the industry and make life safer for prostitutes. This move, however, resulted in a spike in demand for prostitutes, and created an ugly industry most in the Netherlands would say is morally questionable. The same would happen with marijuana— or any other drug that was marked for open consumption.
University of California, Berkeley has decided to approve of the drug trade in an unusual way. It is going to financially support drug criminals at school.
Administrators at UC Berkeley have implemented a new scholarship that makes it easier for drug offenders, who would otherwise be denied financial aid, to attend college. As David Wassermann, sponsor of the scholarship said, Berkeley “is doing what is necessary to provide the means to an education for students in need.” Excuse me? Drug criminals don’t need an education from an elite California school. They need an education from the school of hard knocks.
A law passed in 2000 barred students with three drug-use convictions or two drug-sale convictions. On Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2007, the Associated Students board at Berkeley voted unanimously to award at least one $400 stipend a year to a student who is ineligible for financial aid because of a drug conviction. The scholarship is granted on the proviso that the recipient maintains a 2.5 grade-point average, completes 20 hours of community service and makes a “moral obligation” to donate, when financially appropriate, to the scholarship program after graduation. The money comes from the Associated Students’ $1.5-million annual budget, which is generated from student activity fees. Scholarship recipients are only permitted to use the money for college-related expenses.
This scholarship at Berkeley takes the horrible philosophy of moral relativity and denigrates it to a whole new realm – moral anarchy. By not holding people responsible for their actions, not making them lie in the bed that they make, UC Berkeley is telling their students that they shouldn’t be held responsible for their actions; that they can have a moral mulligan, if you will. Where is the accountability?
The scholarship sends the wrong message to would be student-criminals. It conveys the notion of entitlement, instead of rewarding excellence. Education at one of the best universities in the country is a privilege, not a right. Institutional hurdles such as blocking federal aid for criminals are built into the system to ensure that the best and the brightest are rewarded by attending classes at Berkeley.
Even on the off chance that a drug offender may have outstanding test scores and grades, the character of the student is also a contributing factor to admissions. Letters of recommendation are required so admissions officers get a sense of the student’s character. Apparently, character matters.
What should we expect from an uber-liberal institution like Berkeley? It might do the school a bit of good to see what it is like to be surrounded by criminals.
Maybe moral relatively will become less relative when drug student-criminals start stealing their laptops and i-Pods to finance their drug habit. Then they won’t need the scholarship.
02-08-07
