This page contains a chronological record of major news items related to Affirmative Action. The news section is subdivided by year: 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006. This page also contains a review section. Please e-mail your suggestions.
This page was last revised August 3, 2006. (AAD Home Page)
A Chronological Record of News and Events Related to Affirmative Action
News and Announcements: 1997
Tuesday, November 11, 1997: The European Union's high court upholds the principle of giving hiring and promotional preferences to women as a valid way of correcting earlier discrimination. It is a decision that could affect affirmative action programs across the Continent, and it sets a legal precedent for all 15 countries in the European Union. Peter Hanau, a professor at the University of Cologne's Research Institute for Social Rights, says the European Court ruling could hasten a general trend toward quota-based affirmative action programs: "The European Union does not require quotas, it only allows them. But there is a trend toward a more affirmative approach."
Tuesday, November 4, 1997: Voters in Houston approve a measure in favor of continuing the city's affirmative action policies, 55% to 45%.
Monday, November 3, 1997: In a long-awaited move, the Supreme Court
refuses to hear an appeal case on Proposition 209 and lets the decisions of
the lower courts stand, which means that the prohibition on affirmative action
in California has been upheld. This was not a decision by the Supreme
Court (though they decided not to hear the case) and it arguably does not set
a national precedent. However, one should note that the House Judiciary Committee
is set to continue its work on legislation similar to Proposition 209. This
legislation would ban the federal government from granting preferences in hiring,
contracting and other programs. Anti-affirmative action drives and ballot initiatives
also abound in Washington state, Houston, and Michigan.
Mark Rosenbaum of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern
California denounces the court's action: "For the first time in our nation's
history, state and local governments have been stripped of their authority to
remedy race and gender discrimination...[California is] for the time being,
at least, the only state unwilling to stand up and take strong measures against
gender and race discrimination within its borders." Martha Davis of the NOW
Legal Defense and Educational Fund argues that "the last thing we want is to
hold up California as a model. I think it would be disastrous if Proposition
209 were exported to other states."
Monday, October 27, 1997: The Save the Dream March culminates with a rally at the Capitol in Sacramento. Rev. Jesse Jackson calls on state and national Democratic leaders to resist efforts to overturn hard-earned civil rights legislation and pledges to build an even larger political coalition in California in opposition to Props. 209 and 187.
Monday, October 20, 1997: Rev. Jesse Jackson begins a bus tour through California that is designed to rally opposition to Prop. 209; it will culminate with a march and rally the following Monday in Sacramento. The theme of the tour and march is "Selma 1965 to Sacramento, Oct. 27, Tribal Sovereignty, Equal Opportunity for All."
Thursday, October 16, 1997: Officials from UC Santa Barbara travel to Watts to offer advice and encouragement to students from three area high schools on the best ways to get admitted to the UC system. "I want to make sure that young people have access to information because all too often the information does not filter down to the inner city," said Joan Walker Scott, admissions counselor at UCSB. "We need to make sure they are not out of the loop."
Tuesday, October 14, 1997: The Center for Individual Rights (the organization behind the law suits at the University of Texas) files a lawsuit against the University of Michigan on behalf of two white students who were denied admission last year. The lawsuit claims the university's affirmative action policies discriminate against "qualified" whites in favor of "unqualified" minority students. University President Lee Bollinger says the school will not back down: "For almost 200 years, public universities have unlocked the doors to social and economic opportunity to students from many different backgrounds. We believe it is absolutely essential that they continue to do so."
August 1997: UC Berkeley's Boalt School of Law announces that none of the 15 African American students admitted decide to enroll, which Herma Hill Kay, dean of the law school calls "a total wipeout." One student who has deferred admission from the previous year becomes the only African American in the first-year class of 270 students.
Thursday, August 28, 1997: Following a Tuesday ruling by the U.S. 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals, the state law prohibiting
affirmative action in California goes into effect. 34 years to the day after
Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, thousands march in protest of
Prop 209 in San Francisco.
August 21, 1997: The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejects a request by Proposition 209 foes that it reconsider an April decision by one of its panels that upheld the ballot measure. In effect, this means the appeals court upholds its earlier ruling that the measure is constitutional. If no further injunctions are either sought or granted, the affirmative action ban could take effect as early as next week, setting in motion the abolition of a variety of government-sponsored programs in public education, employment and contracting. The question now is whether the Supreme Court will hear the case.
July 11, 1997: The US Department of Education has told the University of California that it plans to investigate whether the university's dismantling of affirmative action has led to violations of federal civil rights law.
June 27, 1997: The Supremem Court announces that it will hear an affirmative action case on appeal next legislative term. Based on a case involving schoolteachers in New Jersey, the question at hand is whether the Civil Rights Act can still "permit employers to take race into account for purposes other than remedying past discrimination?"
June 18, 1997: At an awards dinner for the Oliver Project, House Speaker Newt Gingrich calls for the elimination of quotas, preferences and set-asides in government contracts, hiring and university admissions. Using the Chicago Bulls as an extended metaphor for "society," Gingrich insists that the Bulls are "a group of individuals so focused on a common goal of winning that they don't have time to worry about what color the other guy is." This, then, forms the basis for his argument that affirmative action is no longer necessary.
June 14, 1997: In a general speech in California on race relations, President Clinton announces that "we must not resegregate higher education or leave it to the private universities to do the public's work."
Week of June 1, 1997: CSU, Northridge professors release the results of their 30-year demographic study of median incomes of majority and minority ethnic groups. They find that the incomes of Chicanos and African Americans have dropped against those of whites, thus refuting "many people's belief that greater emphasis on civil rights and an expanded economy has lifted all boats." The role that higher and post-graduate education plays in these statistics is evident in their revealing that 90% of all southern California lawyers are white.
May 18, 1997: UC Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien denounces the UC's dismantling of affirmative action and related programs in a commencement address: "One of our fundamental purposes is to prepare leaders for the future. The ban on affirmative action robs us of an important tool....In my mind there is no question of the value of diversity. In the 21st century, excellence can come only through diversity." He also notes in the same speech that he has interviewed disadvantaged inner-city high school students and met with the kind of disenchantment evident in the following: "Why should I work hard anymore? I'm not welcome. I'm a second-class citizen."
May 15, 1997: UC Regents derail the vote on ending VIP admissions. Over a year previous, The Times had revealed that more than 200 VIP applicants have been admitted to UCLA since 1980.
Sunday, April 13, 1997: House Speaker Newt Gingrich announces that that legislation limiting affirmative action is not on his short-term agenda despite the recent federal court ruling upholding California's ban on affirmative action programs. The Georgia Republican said that while he opposes quotas and set-asides for positions in jobs and schools, conservatives should take more positive steps to improve community relations before taking on affirmative action.
April 14, 1997: The Association of American Universities releases a strong statement in support of diversity in university admissions.
Thursday, April 10, 1997: The Clinton Administration announcesthat it will continue to challenge Prop. 209." The p resident made it clear that we are going to continue to stand by our position," said Rahm Emanuel, senior advisor to the president. "As you know, my position on affirmative action is that a lot of the things we had been doing should be changed," Clinton s aid after the court ruled this week. "But my formulation of 'mend it, don't end it,' I still think, is the best thing for America." If states are prohibited from taking "appropriate steps" to help the disadvantaged, Clinton added, "we'll all have to regro up and find new ways to achieve the same objective."
Wednesday, April 9, 1997: U.S. Panel Upholds Prop. 209 on Affirmative action -- Three 9th Circuit justices rule that measure to eliminate preferences for women and minorities in college admissions and government employment is constitutional. The ruling does not take effect for 21 days, a period automatically extended when proposition opponents request a rehearing. Opponents were optimistic the full court would order a new hearing by an 11-judge panel. Ward Connerly announces that, "Anyone with a sense of history and an appreciation of the principles of American democracy must know that a system of policies that grants preferences to some citizens at the sacrifice of others cannot long endure."
Wednesday, March 12: UC Regent Ward Connerly says ethnic clues in names could be used to undermine changes that removed preferences and discusses possibility of anonymous admissions. "You know that Jamal Washington is likely to be an African American student," Regent Ward Connerly said. "You know that Pablo Gonzales is going to be a Latino. . . . Having the names on the forms would be an invitation for [admissions officers] to consciously or subconsciously take race into account."
Tuesday, February 18, 1997: The Supreme Court turns down Philadelphia's plea to preserve a city law that set aside one-fourth of its public works spending for businesses owned by blacks or women. Less than 1% of the 8,050 construction firms in the greater Philadelphia area were owned by blacks. While city officials said that this low number showed the need for the program, the judge concluded that the paucity of minority entrepreneurs, not discrimination, explained why few city contracts were won by black-owned companies.
Monday, January 6, 1997: Chief U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson denies a motion by Gov. Pete Wilson to allow a state court to review Prop. 209 before Henderson decides whether it is constitutional.
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