The Question: : How would the candidates ensure diversity in
higher education, given the passage in 1996 of the anti-affirmative action
Proposition 209?
The Position
AL CHECCI: His appointments would reflect the state's ethnic and
racial make-up. He'd take special care in his appointments of
university regents and trustees.
"The quality of education is a function of the diversity of the student
body."
GRAY DAVIS: Opposed 209, but will follow its mandates. Cites
his work as chief of staff to Gov. Jerry Brown, who appointed
many women and minorities.
"I don't need a law to tell me to look in every community to find
their place in my judiciary and cabinet and administration."
JANE HARMAN: Opposed 209. Will improve education to "make
[209] irrelevant."
"I'm the only member of California's diversity on this panel, and I'm
proud to be a woman and a working mother."
DAN LUNGREN: Supported 209. Wants public school reforms,
and would put more emphasis on community colleges.
"If we reform K-12 [education] so every child in California had an
opportunity to get a quality education, . . . we would see a solution
to the problem."
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Carl
Gutierrez-Jones
Department of English
University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106
E-mail: carlgj@humanitas.ucsb.edu