U. of California Regents May Revisit Ban on Affirmative Action
in Admissions U. of California Regents May Revisit Ban on Affirmative Action
in Admissions
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Tuesday, January 9, 2001
Jeffrey Selingo
The University of California Board of Regents may consider, possibly as soon as March, overturning its 1995 policy that barred the use of affirmative action in university admissions. While the move is largely symbolic since a voter-approved statewide ban on racial preferences would remain in place, leaders of the effort said it could help the system attract more minority students.
Supporters of affirmative action on the Board of Regents have planned to revisit the 1995 policy--which passed 14 to 10, with one abstention--for some time. But they wanted to overturn the measure by a wide margin and they didn't believe they had enough votes until now. Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, is scheduled to appoint two new regents in March. They will replace two members who voted in favor of the ban. Seven other regents who voted in favor of the ban are no longer on the board.
"This will be a very positive aspect of our outreach efforts," said Regent William T. Bagley, who plans to sponsor the resolution along with Regent Judith L. Hopkinson, and two ex-officio members of the board. Mr. Bagley was the regent who abstained in the 1995 vote. He planned to make a motion to reconsider the resolution, and the only way he could do that, under the regents' rules, was either to vote with the winning side or abstain.
"There is a distinct feeling out there in the minority community that the regents don't want them," he said. "That feeling is wrong, but it's there."
Last year, the number of underrepresented minority students admitted as freshman on the University of California campuses surpassed, for the first time, the number from 1997, the last year affirmative action was used in the admissions process. But some minority students, in particular black students, decide not to enroll.
The University of California plans to spend more than $250-million this year on outreach efforts in the state's elementary and secondary schools, as well as the community colleges. But Mr. Bagley said many of those programs may not pay off for another 10 years. "By then, we'll lose an entire generation," he said.
Mr. Bagley conceded that his proposal would have little, if any, practical effect if it passed. A little more than a year after the regents barred affirmative action, California voters approved a ballot referendum--Proposition 209--that prohibited state and local agencies, including public colleges, from using preferences based on race or gender. That effort was led by Regent Ward Connerly, who succeeded in pushing for passage of a similar measure in Washington State in 1998, and has since campaigned for putting such referendums on the ballot in other states as well.
Mr. Connerly opposes any move to reverse the 1995 ban, saying that it would only fuel a campaign already under way to overturn Proposition 209. In addition, he said, supporters of affirmative action would use such a decision by the regents to encourage campus presidents to ignore Proposition 209.
"It would be the dumbest thing we could do," Mr. Connerly said. "The movement to turn around 209 will come alive...the day after the regents meet."
Mr. Connerly said he would be surprised if Governor Davis backed any effort to overturn Proposition 209, since both sides agree that polls show an even wider margin of voters support the measure today.
A spokeswoman for Governor Davis, who is a voting member of the Board of Regents, said on Monday that he has yet to evaluate any proposal from the regents concerning affirmative action. "The governor clearly opposed 209," said Hilary McLean, a spokeswoman for Mr. Davis. "However, he knows that it is now the law."
The Board of Regents also passed a resolution in 1995 to end racial preferences in hiring and contracting. But Mr. Bagley said he has no intention of introducing a proposal to change that measure since he believes it hasn't had any effect on the university system.
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