This page contains a chronological record of some of the major events surrounding the passage of California Proposition 209 and other Affirmative Action news. The news section is subdivided by year: 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006.
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: 2001
December 29, 2001: The academic stars of Harvard's Afro American Studies department are considering leaving for rival Princeton, in a challenge to the new president of Harvard University, Lawrence Summers. Princeton is seeking to lure the professors, including Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cornel West, in hopes of building an instant department that might rival Harvard's in its popular and scholarly appeal, according to officials at both universities.Afro American Scholars May Desert Harvard
December 26, 2001: Saying the nation is ready to move past labeling people by their color or origin, supporters of a proposed ballot initiative are seeking to stop governments in California from collecting racial data and classifying people into racial categories. Affirmative Action Foe is Targeting Racial Data in California
November 29, 2001: The University of California has filled a position that is central to its efforts to attract and admit minorities without affirmative action. UCLA Vice Chancellor Winston Doby has been appointed the new vice president for educational outreach for the UC system, replacing an interim appointee, UC Irvine Vice Chancellor Manuel Gomez. UC System Hires Chief of Minority Outreach
November 26, 2001: University of California President Richard Atkinson made national headlines when he proposed that the university drop the long-standing SAT I admission requirement. In a speech to the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, he added that UC faculty members are considering replacing the SAT I with two additional SAT II tests.Change SAT? Not so Fast
November 15, 2001: The University of California is poised to change the admissions process today for incoming students -- some of whom have already submitted their applications, which are due by the end of the month. Some students and counselors, who have spent the past four years preparing to be judged just on academics, were taken by surprise that a broader set of standards is likely to be put in place. UC Regents Set to Alter Admissions; UC May Consider 'Hardships' in Admission
October 31, 2001: The Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court do not seem to know how to go about answering the question whether affirmative action programs are constitutional. They do not even know how to pick the right case. But deciding which cases to decide is every bit as important as deciding them. Affirmative Action or Reverse Discrimination?
October 25, 2001: In an attempt to increase diversity without considering race, the San Francisco Board of Education approved new admissions plans for two of the city's top public high schools. S.F. School Board OKs Diversity Plan
October 22, 2001: As the University of Michigan prepares this fall to defend two affirmative action lawsuits in federal appeals court, some have wondered whether the departure of U-M President Lee Bollinger will change the school's legal strategy or commitment to the cases. Not a chance, university leaders said last week. UM says its cause stronger than ever
October 17, 2001: The University of California Regents will discuss a controversial proposal today that would institute a broad definition of merit in its admissions process. Currently, campuses are required to admit at least half of their students based purely on academic criteria -- grades, scores and classes taken. UC Admissions Policy Again on Regents' Minds and UC Regents Ask for Research on Admissions Plan
October 10, 2001: Affirmative action, the nation's much-debated answer to generations of racial injustice, is showing surprising resilience after years of attack by courts and politicians and by conservative-led efforts to vote it down in the polls. Diverse or discriminatory? Affirmative Action remains popular
September 20, 2001: A highly touted new admissions program that was expected to expand access to the University of California, particularly for disadvantaged and minority students, has been delayed indefinitely because of a shortage of funds. Plan to expand UC admissions postponed
September 11, 2001: An internal audit for the University of California says that UC San Diego will have to raise an extra $1 million to pay for obligations incurred in a now-canceled scholarship program that the UC attorneys conclude illegally targeted under-represented minorities. Illegal Scholarships Costly to UC San Diego
September 10, 2001: The Justice Department will soon begin a study of racial profiling at local police departments but won't force police to participate, the Bush administration's civil rights chief said Monday. See article Justice Department to Begin Racial Study
September 10, 2001: A recent federal appeals court decision striking
down the use of affirmative action in admissions at the University of Georgia
underscores the importance of the two upcoming affirmative action cases involving
the University of Michigan. The U-M cases are scheduled to be heard Oct. 23
in Cincinnati before a panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. See article
Diversity: Its value
faces critical tests in U-M's court cases.
September 6, 2001: Black and Hispanic freshman enrollment held steady at most of Florida's 11 public universities this year, leading Gov. Jeb Bush's administration to declare that the One Florida race-neutral admissions policy is working. Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan announced Wednesday that blacks make up a slightly smaller portion of this year's university freshman class than last year's, but the percentage of Hispanics rose slightly. See articles Minority Enrollment Keeps Up, Number of Minority Freshmen Rises as Affirmative Action Ends, and Minority Freshmen Rolls Rise at State Colleges.
September 7, 2001: The State Court of Appeals this week may have provided some finality to California's ban on affirmative action. It unanimously denied state agencies the tools necessary to identify and change racially skewed hiring patterns. The court concluded that five state laws designed to help women and minorities learn about and compete for state jobs and contracts are invalid under Proposition 209, the 1996 anti-affirmative action measure. See article Legally Blind to the Problem.
September 1, 2001: See race and affirmative action stories from around the globe: Brazil Grappling with Racism, Race Declaration May Lose Symbolism, and India Caste System Discriminates.
August 30, 2001: The University of Florida has announced that it will no longer award scholarships based on race. See article Florida Eliminating Scholarships
August 28, 2001: A U.S. appeals court yesterday struck down the use of a "diversity bonus" for all nonwhite students applying to the University of Georgia, a ruling that appears to set the stage for a Supreme Court showdown on college affirmative action. The three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling in favor of three white women who were denied admission in 1999. College 'diversity bonus' heads to high court
August 27, 2001: A federal appeals court panel ruled unanimously today that the admissions policy of the University of Georgia, which gives a slight preference in bonus points to nonwhite applicants, was unconstitutional. The three judges on the panel said the university failed to prove that having more nonwhite students on campus would lead to a more diverse student body. See articles U. of Georgia Cannot Use Race in Admission Policy, Court Strikes Down Georgia Admissions Policy, and Affirmative Action's Confusing Curriculum Ruling. See also related articles Path to Diversity? and UGA Weighs Appeal on Admissions Ruling.
August 16, 2001: The lawsuit of a disgruntled white applicant alleging racial discrimination in his rejection by the University of Maryland School of Medicine was dismissed yesterday by a federal judge in Baltimore, without his addressing constitutional issues at the heart of the plaintiff's case. Robert Farmer, 40, alleged he would have been accepted had he been an applicant from an "under-represented minority" - one of several cases around the country challenging affirmative action in school admissions and raising an issue many expect to reach the Supreme Court. See article Bias Suit Tossed Out.
August 14, 2001:Despite promising gains made in the number of television and theatrical roles allotted to minority actors, Hollywood remains an overwhelmingly white town, with more than three-quarters of all roles going to white performers, according to the Screen Actors Guild 2000 Employment Statistics Report, which was released Monday. See article from Los Angeles, SAG report finds there's still plenty of room left for diversity.
August 12, 2001: Black freshman enrollment at the University of Florida is expected to be down by nearly half this year under Gov. Jeb Bush's ban on racial preference in public university admissions. Blacks represented nearly 12 percent of the freshman class last year, but the class starting this month will be only 6 percent to 7 percent black, said officials at the state's most elite public university. ``This is disappointing,'' said provost David Colburn, the school's chief academic officer. See article Ban Likely to Cut Black Enrollment and editorial piece Jury Still Out on Talented Twenty.
August 10, 2001: Disappointing conservatives who wanted the government to switch sides, the Bush administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to uphold a federal affirmative action program. See article Bush Administration Defends Affirmative Action.
In its first opportunity to take a stance on affirmative action, the Bush administration asked the Supreme Court tonight to uphold a Transportation Department program intended to help minority contractors. See article White House Favors Keeping an Affirmative Action Policy.
August 9, 2001: The Bush administration is expected to defend the use of racial preferences to award some government contracts, a position out of step with campaign rhetoric, when it files its response to a Supreme Court case this week. The government response is due Friday in an 11-year case that has come to symbolize reverse discrimination. See White House Race Response Due.
July 29, 2001: MULTICULTURALISM, more than an attitude but less than a theory, was a propelling force behind American art of the last two decades. It will define the 1990's in the history books as surely as Pop defined the 1960's. But it came with problems as well as benefits; some of those problems have grown acute. In the 2000's, the time has come to move on to new ground. Multiculturalist thinking changed the art world's demographics and expanded its frame of reference far beyond Western horizons. See article Beyond Multiculturalism, Freedom?
July 23, 2001: In the latest fallout from the state ban on affirmative
action, the University of California at San Diego has been warned by UC's attorneys
that one of its scholarship programs may be illegal because it is designed to
attract underrepresented minority students. The school's "Millennium Scholarships"
were awarded in 2000 and 2001 to 89 students with money from private donors.
See article UC San
Diego Told Scholarships May Be Illegal Under Prop 209.
July 25, 2001: The American Bar Association is asking Texas Southern University's law school to raise admission standards, effectively shutting the door to many black and Hispanic students that would likely not have been accepted at other state law schools. See article TSU Law Admissions Too Easy.
July 20, 2001: The University of California Board of Regents approved a dramatic change to the university's admissions policy yesterday that is expected to increase enrollments of disadvantaged and minority students. The "dual admissions" program, which comes six years after UC banned affirmative action, is the latest in a series of proposals by UC President Richard Atkinson to expand ways for more students -- particularly African American, Latino and Native American students -- to gain access to the university. See article UC Widens Chance of Gaining Admission.
July 13, 2001: In a 1996 referendum, California voters outlawed racial preferences. Or did they? At the University of California, a lovely backdoor has been found for beating the ban. The maneuver appears wholly innocuous. Who, after all, would complain if UC decided to give the SAT II twice as much weight as the SAT I in determining college admission? See editorial Affirmative Action Fails Again.
July 10, 2001: Al Gonzales is not entirely comfortable with the direction the discussion has taken. He's been White House counsel for a few months, and affirmative action -- the controversial policy giving preference to minorities -- is not something he's eager to discuss.And he's much talked about today as a potential nominee to the Supreme Court. The Republican Party has historically opposed racial preferences, and Gonzales wants to make it clear he's no radical on the subject. "If affirmative action is quotas, then I am not for it," he says. "If it means equal opportunity, then I say I support that. "But to ask for special treatment because of race, that bothers me. And that may seem sort of hypocritical from someone who has probably been helped because of his race." See article Postioned for a Call to Justice.
July 2, 2001: THE D.C. CIRCUIT Court of Appeals recently declined to review a little-noticed affirmative action decision that was handed down by a three-judge panel earlier this year. That opinion, which struck down the Federal Communications Commission's equal opportunity rules for the broadcasters it licenses, attacked what ought to be the most inoffensive corner of affirmative action. The FCC's program didn't require broadcasters to set quotas or hiring goals or to give any kind of preferences in hiring. See article Wrongheaded on Race.
June 30, 2001: University of Texas officials are hopeful that a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to let stand a decision allowing the University of Washington law school to use affirmative action may eventually mean UT can do the same. But experts say the issue is far from settled, and there's no telling how UT and other universities will eventually be affected. See article High Court Lets Admissions Ruling Stand.
June 28, 2001: The daughter of a white mother and a black father, Veronica Keiffer has short, curly, dark-brown hair, brown eyes and olive-brown skin dusted with freckles. People have called her ``exotic,'' addressed her in Spanish and asked to touch her hair. If Keiffer ever forgets about race, she's soon reminded by someone asking: ``What are you?'' To her, race is something that permeates life. See article Scientists Debate Role of Race.
June 27, 2001: In the span of a month, the Supreme Court has declined to review two federal appeals court cases dealing with affirmative action -- one permitting the University of Washington Law School to award preferences to applicants on the basis of racial diversity, the other preventing the University of Texas Law School from doing so. As new cases come before them in the next few months, the justices will need to end this constitutional confusion. See editiorial The Strong Case for Campus Diversity. Also, with every rejection of an affirmative action challenge brought before it, the U.S. Supreme Court puts an even brighter spotlight on twin cases from the University of Michigan. See article Admissions U-M Could be Definitive Affirmative Action Case and Students to Rally at U-M.
June 26, 2001: The Bush Administration has nominated Gerald A. Reynolds, a lawyer and staunch opponent of affirmative action, to head the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, the division responsible for protecting the civil rights of minorities, women and disabled people from kindergarten through graduate school. See article Affirmative Action Foe Picked for Rights Post.
June 26, 2001: Though the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a ruling that led Texas to abandon a raced-based admissions policy at its colleges and universities, it may not be the court's last word on the subject. Two separate appeals winding their way through the courts involve University of Michigan policies that consider race when evaluating applicants to its undergraduate and law schools. See articles Focus on Affirmative Action, High Court Plays Dodge Ball, and Legal Guidance.
June 26, 2001: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied Texas a hearing on the Hopwood case in which a lower court ordered a ban on affirmative-action programs in admissions, financial aid and faculty hiring at state universities. The court's refusal means that Texas schools must continue to ignore race as a factor in their decisions, as they have for five years. But lawyers on all sides agree that Monday's decision doesn't resolve the issue. See article High Court Declines to Address Hopwood.
June 25, 2001: The U.S. Supreme Court refused today to review a lower court ruling that a Texas affirmative action program discriminated against whites, leaving the question of raced-based admissions policies in the nation's universities and colleges up in the air. See articles Top Court Sidesteps Affirmative Action Case, End to Affirmative Action Upheld, Supreme Court Upholds Texas Ruling, and Supreme Court Rejects Texas Race Admissions Appeal.
June 4, 2001: Although the Rehnquist Supreme Court has severely limited the use of race-sensitive criteria in the awarding of government contracts, reapportionment and other areas, it has so far managed to avoid the debate about affirmative action in higher education. Just last week, the court declined to review a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upholding the University of Washington Law School's use of race in its admissions practices prior to a 1998 voter initiative barring such policies. But other conflicting lower- court rulings are likely to compel the justices to address the issue soon. See article Confusion on Affirmative Action.
May 29, 2001: The Supreme Court this morning let stand an appeals-court ruling that found diversity to be an adequate justification for public colleges to consider race in admissions. The court's order, in a case that challenged the admissions policies of the University of Washington's law school, was something of a victory for supporters of affirmative action. Those advocates, including most college officials, feared that the court might use the case to review its landmark 1978 ruling, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, on which most colleges' affirmative-action programs are based. See article Supreme Court Declines to Review Affirmative Action in Higher Education in The Chronicle for Higher Education.
May 17, 2001: After fueling a ballot initiative that outlawed state-sponsored affirmative action and igniting a national debate, the University of California regents Wednesday unanimously repealed their 1995 ban on racial preferences. See article UC Regents Repeal Ban on Racial Preferences.
May 16, 2001: In a feat of last-minute diplomacy, University of California regents put aside their political differences Wednesday, rescinding two 1995 policies that ended affirmative action at the university. At the same time, they paved the way for potentially significant changes in admissions for the class entering the UC system in fall 2002. See article: UC Regents' Symbolic Step to Spur Change in Admissions: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION POLICIES REPEALED.
May 16, 2001: A consensus that was to bring closure to the divisive issue of affirmative action at the University of California was unraveling on the eve of a crucial vote by the UC Board of Regents. Democratic and Latino legislators and civil rights advocates called yesterday for a full repeal of SP-1 and SP-2, the 1995 resolutions barring the use of racial and gender preferences in admissions and hiring. See article Critics say plan fails to counter image of bias.
May 15, 2001: A group of 18 prominent Latino faculty members Monday called on the University of California's Board of Regents to repeal its 1995 ban on affirmative action and drop the tiered admission system that requires 50-75 percent of each entering class to be admitted based solely on academics.
May 13, 2001: After years of student protests and pressure from the state Legislature, the University of California regents plan this week to reconsider their ban on affirmative action. See article, New Debate on UC Race Preference.
May 10, 2001: Acknowledging that controversy over affirmative action may have damaged the university's reputation, a powerful coalition of regents is backing a symbolic move to abandon the University of California's historic 1995 ban on racial preferences. Their proposal would not reinstate affirmative action in UC hiring and admissions. Instead, it would replace the regents' 6-year-old policies with language simply affirming that the system will follow the state constitution -- as amended in 1996 by Proposition 209 -- and treat all students, employees and contractors equally, without regard to race. See article UC Drafts Symbolic Shift on Admissions.
May 8, 2001: In a state where there is no longer a majority racial or ethnic group, some are asking whether there is a future for the word ``minority.'' Census figures released in March showed non-Hispanic whites make up 47 percent of California's population - the first time whites were not in the majority since the census began to keep accurate numbers.
April 17, 2001: Attorney General John Cornyn asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to review the Hopwood case, which effectively bars public universities in Texas from using race as a factor for admissions, scholarships and financial aid. In his petition, Cornyn, a Republican, said the University of Texas law school and other public schools need guidance in their efforts to correct past discrimination against racial minorities. See article Cornyn Asks That High Court Review College Admission Case.
April 17, 2001: When Patrick Barrett applied for a small business loan from the state of Hawaii's Office of Hawaiian Affairs last September, he knew his chances for approval were pretty grim. . . But when his application was sent back, Barrett didn't go away; he went to court. He is suing the state of Hawaii in federal court, contending that the statutes that created OHA and other privileges for native Hawaiians violate his Constitutional right to equal protection under the law because he is not "a member of the preferred race." See article: Going Anti-Native.
April 14, 2001: An initiative drive that would prohibit the state from collecting racial data on individuals has sparked opposition from civil rights organizations. Ward Connerly, a University of California regent who championed the end of affirmative action, began collecting signatures this week to put an initiative on the March ballot that would outlaw tracking race in everything from university admissions to the makeup of school districts. See Connerly Starts Push.
April 6, 2001: A federal appeals panel ruled yesterday that the University of Michigan's law school could continue using affirmative action in admissions pending the appeal of a lower court ruling last week that its policy illegally considers applicants' race. The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, overturned a ruling earlier this week that denied the university's request for a temporary delay in ending the policy. That means the law school may proceed with this year's admissions on schedule. See article Law School Wins Reprieve on Admission Policy.
April 9, 2001: A landmark case before the U.S. Supreme Court could scuttle federal programs that earmark contracts for minority-owned businesses. See article, Affirmative Action's Latest Greatest Challenge.
April 4, 2001: The percentage of minority students admitted to the University of California has nearly reached affirmative action levels, according to figures released Tuesday. In addition, the system admitted 10 percent more Californians than last year. Of the students the UC system admitted for the fall 2001 freshman class, 18.6 percent were African-American, Latino, Chicano and American Indian. That's a percentage point increase over last year and just shy of 1997's 18.8 percent, the last time the university used racial preferences in admissions. See articles UC Makes the Grade for Minority Students and Minority College Enrollment Rising.
The University of California announced Tuesday that it has accepted a record number of Latinos and has significantly increased admissions among African Americans for next fall's freshman class. But numbers for the two minority groups remain depressed at the two most competitive campuses, UC Berkeley and UCLA. See article Numbers of Blacks, Latinos Admitted to UC System Rise.
March 30, 2001: Fallout from a U.S. district judge's ruling against the University of Michigan's law school continued Thursday, as nearly 1,000 students gathered on the campus to hear the Rev. Jesse Jackson and others denounce the decision. In a 30-minute speech peppered with humor and historical references, Jackson enthralled the crowd and urged people to fight for a reversal of U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman's ruling Tuesday that the U-M law school admissions policy is illegal. See article Jackson Leads Protest Over U-M Case.
March 29, 2001: President Bush apparently wants a government that not only looks like America but argues like America - and didn't all come from the same law school. Diversity in presidential appointments means many things to Bush beyond hiring women and minorities, Clay Johnson, his point man for filling top jobs, said Thursday. See article Diversity Means Many Things to Bush.
March 28, 2001: A federal judge in Detroit ruled yesterday (March 27, 2001) that the race-conscious admissions system of the University of Michigan's law school is unconstitutional, contradicting a December ruling in a parallel case that upheld the university's affirmative action policy for undergraduate admissions. The earlier ruling, by another judge on the same court and now on appeal, was seen as a flicker of hope for a movement fallen out of vogue while the new ruling joins a string of defeats for affirmative action over the last six years. See New York Times Article U.S. Court Bars Race as a Factor in School Entry.
March 27, 2001: Dealing another setback to affirmative action, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the use of race in admissions at the University of Michigan law school is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman, in a case closely watched by educators across the country, acknowledged there is a ``long and tragic history of race discrimination in this country.'' But he said the law school's goal of achieving a racially diverse student body is not a compelling state interest - and even if it were, the school has not narrowly tailored its use of race to achieve the goal. See article Court Rules Against UM Law Policy.
March 26, 2001: The Supreme Court said on Monday it will return to the politically explosive issue of federal affirmative action for racial minorities, deciding whether a program to help disadvantaged businesses survives constitutional scrutiny. Taking up one of the nation's most contentious social issues, the court agreed to hear a challenge to the U.S. Transportation Department's revised highway construction program designed to favor minority and other disadvantaged businesses. See articles Supreme Court to Decide Affirmative Action Case, Justices to Revisit Affirmative Action in a Test Case for Bush and Court to Review Affirmative Action.
March 26, 2001: One of France's most prestigious colleges announced Monday that it will ease admissions requirements for some disadvantaged students, stirring an impassioned debate about how to diversify the nation's top schools. The Institut d'etudes politiques - better known as Sciences Po - is considered a training ground for France's political, media and administrative elite. Alumni include President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, as well as many members of the Cabinet. See article from Paris French College Tries to Diversify.
March 15, 2001: An angry crowd of University of California students, after demanding that UC regents rescind a 1995 ban on affirmative action in admissions, took over a hall at UCLA yesterday in an effort to gain leverage for their cause. The tactic worked: They forced the cancellation of a mayoral debate, former Speaker of the Assembly Antonio Villaraigosa pledged to intercede on their behalf, and student regent Justin Fong agreed to get the matter on the agenda of the regents' next meeting, in May. Villaraigosa and Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, two of the candidates running for Los Angeles mayor, turned out to support the students after they took over Royce Hall in the late afternoon. See article Protesters Slam UC Admissions Policy, Noisy UCLA crowd storms hall, calls for reversal of affirmative action ban.
March 10, 2001: Some 20 members of the Ku Klux Klan turned out for a rally on Saturday in this predominantly black northwest Indiana city after winning reluctant approval from local officials. The rally, which began at 1 p.m. EST at a football stadium near the Indiana University Northwest campus, drew a crowd of about 90 protesters, who marched and held signs reading ``Stop the KKK'' in opposition to the Klan's racist message. See article Gary Indiana, Klan Rally Mainly Draws Protesters.
March 9, 2001: Thousands of students rallied Thursday at the University of California-Berkeley to demand that the UC system reverse its ban on affirmative action. But before the noon rally even began, fights unrelated to the affirmative action debate broke out between rival high school students who had gathered for the event, and Telegraph Avenue became a whirlwind of flying fists and running students. See article Thousands at UC-Berkeley Rally for Affirmative Action.
About 2,000 high school and college students converged on the University of California at Berkeley campus yesterday, calling on UC regents to repeal their ban on affirmative action in admissions. The rally at Sproul Plaza -- the scene of innumerable protests ever since the tumultuous 1960s -- was marred by some looting and violence as demonstrators marched through downtown Berkeley to demand that the regents take action at their meeting in Los Angeles next week, before the May 1 deadline for entering freshmen to declare their intent to enroll for this fall. See article UC Protest Rips Policy on Minorities.
A lunchtime rally demanding the return of affirmative action got out of hand this afternoon. A thousand people were protesting at U.C. Berkeley when a sizable splinter group broke off, starting fights and vandalizing stores. An unruly crows of about 150 high school students got out of control and raced down Telegraph Avenue before the noontime rally was to begin. See article Affirmative Action Rally Turns Ugly.
Protest organizers are calling the March 8 affirmative action rally on the UC Berkeley campus the largest since the UC Regents banned the use of ethnicity in admissions decisions. While UC police estimated the crowd at just over 1,000, organizers say that 6,000 people descended on Berkeley as part of the statewide protest. See article Class Action Rally Demonstrates Growing Opposition to UC Affirmative Action Ban.
March 6, 2001: San Francisco school officials will keep hundreds of high school students and teachers in class Thursday rather than send them to Berkeley to rally for affirmative action. San Francisco Unified School District had planned to send as many as 500 students and teachers to the University of California at Berkeley on Thursday to rally for racial preferences in college admissions, as The Chronicle reported yesterday. See article S.F. Cancels Plans to Send Kids to Rally
March 5, 2001: The San Francisco Board of Education wants its high school students to skip school Thursday to show support for its pet cause: affirmative action. The board unanimously approved an emergency resolution last week, and hundreds of students and teachers, instead of spending a day of reading and writing, are expected to volunteer to be bused to the University of California at Berkeley to rally for racial preferences. See article S.F. Schools Urge Kids to Skip for Rally.
March 2, 2001: UC Berkeley students who help recruit minorities to the school threatened Thursday to actively discourage them from enrolling if regents don't repeal their ban against affirmative action this month. Saying they're tired of trying to diversify the campus without the university's support, students who staff campus recruitment and retention centers told a crowd of more than 200 that prospective minority students should know the "truth" -- that the university doesn't welcome them. (See article California Activists: CAN THE BAN)
March 1, 2001: A group of minority students did not prove that discrimination at the University of Michigan justified the use of a race-conscious undergraduate admissions policy, U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan has ruled. But the ruling, released Wednesday, does not change an earlier decision in which Duggan upheld U-M's admissions policy, which considers race as one factor.(See article Students Didn't Sway Judge)
March 1, 2001: A Washington Post editorial believes advocates of affirmative action in higher education scored two debilitating triumphs in December when courts upheld the legality of racial preferences in admissions as administered at the University of Washington and the University of Michigan, but few more such victories and affirmative action will be completely incoherent.
February 28, 2001: The University of Michigan does not need to use affirmative action in its admissions policies to remedy the effects of past discrimination, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan had ruled in December that the school's undergraduate admissions standards, used since 1999, are a constitutional way to achieve diversity. The decision released Wednesday rejected arguments by students who had joined the lawsuit.(See article Judge: U. of Michigan Can't Amend Past)
February 17, 2001: The president of the University of California has recommended dropping the main SAT as an admission requirement at its eight campuses, saying the test is an unfair measurement of students' abilities. The development could affect the way high school students in California and across the nation prepare for college. The University of California system is one of the nation's largest, with 170,000 students. Richard C. Atkinson was to announce his recommendation in a speech to the American Council on Education in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. (See also related articles on the Dropping of the SAT and Its Relation to Affirmative Action in California.)
February 11, 2001: BAMN (The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action and Integration By Any Means Necessary) calls for a California Statewide Declaration of Action on March 8th to Reverse the Ban on Affirmative Action NOW! See related BAMN sites: Reverse the Ban NOW!; Professors Declare Support.
February 8, 2001: Since a voter-approved ban of affirmative action programs in the state, there has been an unexpected and dramatic drop in the percentage of female faculty hired at the University of California. In the 1995-96 academic year, women were 35.8 percent of UC's hires, but in the 1999-2000 academic year, after the passage of Proposition 209 and a UC Regents resolution ending the use of affirmative action, 25.1 percent of faculty hires were women. (See article "Faculty Gender Gap is Growing" San Francisco Chonicle).
February 8, 2001: A Harvard University professor's view that grade inflation there was linked to a rise in black student admissions in the 1970s sparked outrage yesterday among Harvard academics and students, who blasted the comments as baseless and offensive. (See article "Professor's Views False, Harvard Says" in The Boston Globe).
February 7, 2001: Standardized tests for college and law school admission are inherently biased against women and minority applicants, an expert witness said Tuesday during the federal trial to decide whether the University of Michigan's Law School admissions policy is constitutional. Martin Shapiro, a testing specialist and psychology professor at Emory University in Atlanta, testified that using race as one of many factors in admissions is the only way colleges can offset biases in standardized tests. (See article "Expert: Aptitude Tests Are Biased" in The Detroit Free Press).
February 3, 2001: John Ashcroft has been confirmed, and a good indicator of which attorney general we get--the one who pledged inclusiveness and racial sensitivity during his confirmation hearings or the one with a long record of indifference and even hostility to racial matters--will be how he addresses affirmative action. No one expects President Bush and Mr. Ashcroft to be affirmative-action fans. But will their enmity extend to matters like racial preferences in higher education? See The Wall Street Journal editorial.
February 1, 2001: A group of students hoping to roll back the University of California ban on affirmative action were out at UC Berkeley's Sproul Plaza today, gathering signatures and momentum for an upcoming march. "There's been a growing movement, not just here," said student activist Ronald Cruz. "Reversing the ban in the very place where the attack on affirmative action started will inspire the nation." KPIX article. For more information on actions to restore affirmative action and UC Berkeley see also recent BAMN News.
January 31, 2001: Minority Applications to UC Rise: Blacks and Latinos post double-digit percentage increases. Figures counter concerns about affirmative action's end, but also reflect changing ethnic makeup of high schools. Record numbers of black and Latino high school seniors have applied to the University of California, marking a turnaround for the university, where administrators worried that minority students would no longer feel welcome because of a ban on affirmative action.
January 22, 2001: The Rev. Jesse Jackson made good on his promise to quickly return to public life, going before a cheering audience Monday to call on President Bush to improve funding for public schools and maintain affirmative action programs. Click here to see brief AP article.
January 10, 2001: Linda Chavez, Bush nominee for U.S. Labor Secretary, spurs debate on whether women still need affirmative action. Her remarks against affirmative action returned the issue to the limelight, a stage it hasn't taken since Californians voted to drop preference programs in university admissions four years ago. See Affirmative Action in the 21st Century
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