Editorial: Frivolous Filing
Editorial Board
Issue date: 4/29/05 Section: Ed-Op
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The University City District, Drexel University, and the University of Pennsylvania are being sued for $10 million for alleged racial discrimination. In a world where a litigious woman plants a finger in a bowl of chili to make a few bucks, we believe this situation is no different.
The UCD boundaries run from 31st and Spring Garden Streets all the way past the University of Pennsylvania campus. However, local area residents are throwing a fit because, they believe, the UCD discriminates on their improvements based on the racial makeup of an area. What the plaintiffs fail to realize is that their race is called a "demographic," not an object of discrimination. Much of the area surrounding University City is of urban population, mostly black, and medium-to-low income. The area inside University City comprises a diverse range of students from just about every ethnic background on the planet. Since UCD is responsible for the area inside their boundaries, and that area has plenty of diversity, it may seem like there is discrimination ... when it is only a matter of boundaries.
Those filing the lawsuit have retained a lawyer and raised funds to investigate the allegations. So, instead of spending that money they raised on improvements for their own neighborhoods, they are taking the easy way out and suing the living daylights out of two universities and the UCD. They complain the UCD purposefully neglects the area, when they are the ones who are living in it. They have the criminals living next door, they have the drug dealers on the corners. If they want to clean up the area that UCD is not even responsible for, they can raise money on their own and do it on their own time. Instead, the crime in the area is substantially worse than the area around the universities, and they have no one but themselves to blame for its perpetuation.
Additionally, the race demographics that the plaintiffs use are questionable, at best. Their claim states that 93% of the population north of Spring Garden Street is black. Below Spring Garden Street, 82% is white. In 2004, before this lawsuit even came up, UCD reported that the overall makeup of University City was 39% white, 40% black, and 21% other ethnicities. Either the plaintiff or the defendants are making up statistics, and we are inclined to believe the more plausible numbers of UCD.
The UCD boundaries run from 31st and Spring Garden Streets all the way past the University of Pennsylvania campus. However, local area residents are throwing a fit because, they believe, the UCD discriminates on their improvements based on the racial makeup of an area. What the plaintiffs fail to realize is that their race is called a "demographic," not an object of discrimination. Much of the area surrounding University City is of urban population, mostly black, and medium-to-low income. The area inside University City comprises a diverse range of students from just about every ethnic background on the planet. Since UCD is responsible for the area inside their boundaries, and that area has plenty of diversity, it may seem like there is discrimination ... when it is only a matter of boundaries.
Those filing the lawsuit have retained a lawyer and raised funds to investigate the allegations. So, instead of spending that money they raised on improvements for their own neighborhoods, they are taking the easy way out and suing the living daylights out of two universities and the UCD. They complain the UCD purposefully neglects the area, when they are the ones who are living in it. They have the criminals living next door, they have the drug dealers on the corners. If they want to clean up the area that UCD is not even responsible for, they can raise money on their own and do it on their own time. Instead, the crime in the area is substantially worse than the area around the universities, and they have no one but themselves to blame for its perpetuation.
Additionally, the race demographics that the plaintiffs use are questionable, at best. Their claim states that 93% of the population north of Spring Garden Street is black. Below Spring Garden Street, 82% is white. In 2004, before this lawsuit even came up, UCD reported that the overall makeup of University City was 39% white, 40% black, and 21% other ethnicities. Either the plaintiff or the defendants are making up statistics, and we are inclined to believe the more plausible numbers of UCD.
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