The stars have aligned for Stanford graduate Julian Castro. He graduated with a degree in political science in 1996 and subsequently earned a law degree at Harvard before returning to his hometown of San Antonio to become mayor. Now, the Democratic Party has tapped him as a keynote speaker for their convention in a few weeks.
From what I can tell, Castro served as an ASSU senator when he attended Stanford. Politico dug up an old issue of the Stanford Daily that features Julian and twin brother Joaquín posing awkwardly in the Quad. According to the article, they received the highest number of votes in the ASSU senate election (which happened to also be the same number).
A New York Times feature touts him as a pragmatist due to his support for NAFTA, balanced budgets, and David Souter. But don’t let this fool you. Undoubtedly, Mr. Castro will soon be taking a leading role in the Democratic Party as a champion of liberal causes, especially affirmative action. Speaking to the New York Times, Castro stated:
“Joaquín and I got into Stanford because of affirmative action,” Julián says. “I scored 1,210 on my SATs, which was lower than the median matriculating student. But I did fine in college and in law school. So did Joaquín. I’m a strong supporter of affirmative action because I’ve seen it work in my own life.”
Conservatives should be happy that Texas politics might stifle Castro’s rise to prominence. Statewide offices tend to go to Republicans in this era. And one of those statewide offices will likely be filled this January by the man who many already paint as Castro’s arch-nemisis: Ted Cruz. Nevertheless, national convention speeches can do a lot for one’s popularity, as President Obama showed us in 2004. Keep an eye on Julian Castro.
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I could have taken a nap during the SAT and still gotten way above 1210.
But that wouldn’t have gotten me into Stanford because I press uno para ingles.
Thank God he will be DESTROYED in Tx politics. I helped with Ted Cruz’s election and this article will be emailed to him –as if he doesn’t know already! Stanford–SAT 1210- really –my opinion just drop immensely of this school. What person that truly deserved that spot got turned away?
That is a very depressing attitude. The “benefit” from affirmative action Castro received was taken away from someone else who lost his/her spot to this guy. 1210 is pretty sad. That’s about 1820 in the new SAT.
To be fair, SAT score only indicates one thing – how well you do on the SAT. As you can see this guy is doing better than many 1500-ers