Word: elitists
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...current wave of unrest in Western Europe began last November, when students closed more than 50 French universities in an attempt to defeat a government-sponsored bill that would have tightened admissions requirements and raised tuition fees. Students criticized the changes as "elitist." In December they gained a dramatic victory when Premier Jacques Chirac withdrew the proposal. Part of their motivation was to continue the elitism they deplored: while total French unemployment is about 11%, only 3% of university graduates are jobless...
...deeper level, no matter how elitist, racist or ideologically unacceptable final clubs are, no one is forced to join one simply by attending Harvard. On the other hand, attending Harvard means paying tuition, and that means supporting the endowment and Harvard's investment stance. That there is no avoiding placing this tacit imprimatur on the investment policy is what motives those who oppose this policy to try to change it. One can passively oppose final clubs by not belonging; there is no way to passively oppose investment policy...
Meanwhile, the Hasty Pudding Club is trying to create a de facto tenth club by tightening its requirements for membership and giving honorary membership to each final club president. This was after the Harvard administration--which previously had cut ties with elitist clubs--spent over a million dollars to bail the Pudding out of its financial troubles...
...community and consider needed reforms together with the faculty and administrators, the problem of latent and diluted change would dissipate. In addition, students might find less of an urge to create a private community, as through final clubs. If the generally accepted principle of equality became a community dictum, elitist organizations that categorically exclude the majority of the student community might play a less central role in the social life of undergraduates. Student groups might at least recognize that they reflect and extend from a larger organization of equals...
Many immediately denounced the reforms as "elitist," charging that they restricted educational opportunities. French students, traditionally eager to man the barricades, have protested attempts at school reform before, including staging a revolt in 1968 that badly shook the government of Charles de Gaulle. But unlike the 1968 rioters, who were engaged in an ideological battle against "bourgeois society," this year's protesters had a strong economic motive. With nearly 30% of those ages 18 to 25 unemployed, the French young increasingly view a college diploma as the surest passport, perhaps the only passport, to a good job and a secure...