Becca Rueble’s article in the most recent issue of the magazine showed the startling drop in numbers of most minority groups on the Berkeley and UCLA campuses.

After Prop. 209 passed in California the previously legal efforts to recruit and provide equal access to women and minorities became unconstitutional. Governor Pete Wilson then called on the legislature to repeal or amend laws to conform with Prop. 209. As a result the University of California was forced to stop not only their affirmative action programs but also any outreach or retention efforts that considered race or gender. Any efforts intended to maintain diversity were required to modify their programs so that they used only “race neutral” criteria such as socioeconomic status.

At UM programs like the Summer Bridge Program, UROP, the Comprehensive Studies Program and many many other recruitment and retention programs would immediately forced to alter their programs to fit with the new law just like the UC system.

Richard Atkinson, president emeritus of the University of California (UC) system at a recent speech at the university said,

“… if we look at enrollment overall, racial and ethnic diversity at the University of California is in great trouble,” Atkinson said. “In 1995, UC Berkeley and UCLA enrolled 469 African Americans in a combined freshman class of 7,100. In 2004, the number was 218 out of 7,350. “Despite enormous efforts, we have failed badly to achieve the goal of a student body that encompasses California’s diverse population.”

Atkinson pointed out two lessons from the California experience. “The first is that race-neutral admissions policies drastically and demonstrably limit the ability of elite universities to reflect the diversity of a multicultural state in any meaningful way. The second is that we will never resolve the conflict over affirmative action by an appeal to the values invoked on both sides of the issue. The dynamics of the public debate create a situation in which compromise is impossible because each side claims the high moral ground,” he said.

In a recent email to the University community from Mary Sue Coleman she reminded us that,

Regardless of whether Proposal 2 is defeated or approved by voters, we have much more work to do at the University of Michigan to live up to our ideals of what a diverse learning community should be. We must recruit and retain students, staff, and faculty who are diverse in the broadest sense of that term; we must encourage an inclusive campus that is respectful of differing perspectives; and we must do everything we can to support the success of every member of the University community.

We know from the experience in California these efforts will hindered if Prop 2 passes.

Tell everyone you know to vote no on 2.

- Ben Grimshaw