Tuesday, April 28, 1998
Affirmative action initiative misses ballot
DIVERSITY: Organizers to gather more signatures, reverse
role
of ethnicity in admissions policy
By Barbara Ortutay
Daily Bruin Contributor
Despite the recent uproar surrounding the decline in minority
admissions, a student-led campaign to reinstate affirmative action
in admissions has not experienced the widespread success some may
have expected.
The Equal Educational Opportunity Initiative (EEOI) is an
initiative that would reverse the section of Proposition 209 that
deals with university admissions.
Organizers already missed the deadline to gather the 800,000
signatures needed to place the initiative on this year’s ballot,
and now they are shooting for the November ballot in the year
2000.
According to coordinator Mike Schwartz, currently there are
about 350,000 signatures that supporters of EEOI have gathered
across the state.
"Most of the signatures have come from Northern California;
Southern California has been lagging behind," he said.
Next Monday, the last day that voters can register for the June
elections, the Students for Educational Opportunity plan to table
in Royce Quad to gather more signatures for the EEOI and register
students to vote.
EEOI does not seek to overturn Prop. 209 in its entirety. If
passed, it would once again be legal to consider race, sex,
national origin or ethnicity as factors for admission.
"People say it shouldn’t be, but race is an issue," said
Schwartz. "You don’t want a campus with just one or two races."
While there are many opponents to using these categories as
factors for admission, Schwartz said it would be easier to gain
support for EEOI than for an entire measure to overturn Prop.
209.
In fact, one of Chancellor Albert Carnesale’s main arguments
against taking a stance on Prop. 209 has been its broad
implications that do not deal with education.
"Prop. 209 deals with much more than education," he stated
earlier. He added that it is not in his position to take a stand on
all the aspects of Prop. 209.
At a recent student council meeting, Schwartz challenged
Carnesale to sign the petition to place EEOI on the ballot.
"This is exactly what he talks about; all this deals with is
education," said Schwartz.
Since SEO is an entirely student-run organization, it is often
difficult for its supporters to receive adequate funding. In
addition, organizers depend entirely on volunteers to go out and
gather signatures.
"Every now and then someone will donate $10 for gas money, but
basically no one is funding this," said Schwartz.
"Most other initiatives are funded by corporations," he
added.
Despite all this, EEOI has gained widespread recognition from
supporters of affirmative action. It is endorsed by the Reverend
Jesse Jackson, California gubernatorial candidates Al Checchi and
Gray Davis, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union.
According to Schwartz, affirmative action is often misunderstood
as giving unqualified minorities preferential treatment. He said
race, sex, economic status and nationality are simply additional
categories to consider when admitting students to a university.
"There are other types of affirmative action that still exist;
people from rural areas, Southern California and children of alumni
still get special consideration," he said.
"I’m a white male who got in on affirmative action," added
Schwartz.