Robert Jensen

About the author: Robert Jensen is a professor of journalism at the University of Texas, Austin.

The preferential treatment granted to blacks through affirmative action programs is no different than the preferential treatment whites have received as a result of white privilege—the fact that many whites are granted jobs, promotions, and admission to elite universities simply because they are white. Those who complain that affirmative action programs have granted positions to blacks of mediocre talent do not realize that just as many whites of mediocre talent have advanced because of white privilege.

Here is what white privilege sounds like:

I'm sitting in my University of Texas office, talking to a very bright and very conservative white student about affirmative action in college admissions, which he opposes and I support. The student says he wants...