Friday, May 1, 1998
Community Briefs
Congress to debate affirmative action
The Riggs Amendment, a proposed addition to the Higher Education
Act prohibiting preferential treatment in university admission
procedures nationwide, is up for debate before the U.S. House of
Representatives this week.
Introduced by Rep. Frank Riggs, R-California, the amendment
would prohibit all federally funded universities from mentioning
race, ethnicity or gender in the application and admissions
processes.
Jenny Simon, coordinator of Associated Students of Madison’s
Higher Education campaign, said that if passed, Riggs’ amendment
would prohibit schools from achieving their diversity goals. "We
could recruit minorities, but would also have to give the same
treatment to white students. So it wouldn’t increase diversity at
all," Simon said.
In a letter to Wisconsin’s nine U.S. representatives, UW System
President Katherine C. Lyall urged them to oppose the
amendment.
"Adoption of Rep. Riggs’ amendment would set back our efforts to
provide equal educational opportunity on UW campuses," Lyall wrote.
"Federal legislation stating that we cannot consider race, gender,
national origin or ethnicity in admissions practices could
effectively mean majority students attending our institutions would
be denied the educational benefit of being exposed to diverse
cultures."
Brian Campeau, secretary of the College Republicans, said he
supports the banning of racial preferences proposed under Riggs’
amendment, but believes it should be left up to the state or
individual universities to decide whether or not to implement the
legislation.
Community board expands
The UCLA School of Public Health’s Advisory Board recently
expanded its commitment to the community by adding four new
members.
Gerald Factor, Carolyn Katzin, Walter Oppenheimer and Constance
Whitney are the new members of the community-based advisory board
responsible for various fund-raising projects on campus.
While the new board members are of communities ranging from
Beverly Hills to Brentwood, each of them will help to fulfill the
$15 million commitment the School of Public Health has made as its
part in Campaign UCLA.
Cal grad students
consider strike
UC Berkeley’s Association of Graduate Student Employees began
voting on Wednesday on whether to strike next semester, likely late
in the fall.
Because voting is scheduled to take place through the remainder
of the week, results are not yet available. But several members
said a graduate student strike is bound to happen next fall if AGSE
members vote to approve the strike proposal.
During a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, AGSE members
discussed the parameters of the strike. One member, who declined to
give his name, said the strike would coincide with other UC
campuses.
During the last school year, AGSE went on strike for three
consecutive days in the fall and spring semesters.
The strike before that was in Nov. 1992, when graduate student
employees picketed for more than one month.
Members of AGSE said they are hoping to achieve collective
bargaining rights with the university in order to negotiate better
working conditions and wages proportional to the value of their
work. But the university feels that GSIs are primarily students who
learn from teaching the classes, members said.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff and wire reports.