California cracks its mortarboards. (abolishing affirmative action at the University of California, July 1995)(Cover Story)

Nation, The, September, 1995 by Hayden, Tom; Rice, Connie

The University of California Regents voted to do away with affirmative action at the school. The action by the regents, who are mostly Republican loyalists and campaign contributors to Gov Pete Wilson, was against the wishes of the school's president, chancellors, and academic senate.

On July 20, the University of California Regents abolished affirmative action, becoming the first university in the nation to end racial and gender considerations in conducting its business. The regents rejected the minimal diversity standards permitted by the Supreme Court's 1978 Bakke decision, and barred U.C. campuses from even considering race and gender in hiring or contracting, as well as admissions.

The decision was bizarre on several counts. The motion to end affirmative...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.