Life after Proposition 209: Affirmative action may be dying, but the dream lives on

Academe, Jul/Aug 1998 by Jones, Terry

Affirmative Action May Be Dying, but the Dream Lives On

ON NOVEMBER 5, 1996, THE voters of California dealt affirmative action a damaging blow. Many of them thought that they were voting to protect civil rights when they approved Proposition 209, which was cleverly packaged as the California Civil Rights Initiative. In actuality, however, they voted to dismantle affirmative action and the support for civil rights it secured. The proposition read as follows: "The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting." By eliminating affirmative action at the state level, California's voters discarded a conservative and incremental strategy designed to deal with overwhelmingly complex phenomenaracism, sexism, and inequality-in our society.

The overall effects of Proposition 209 vary. In higher education, early statistical evidence shows an impact ranging from the minimal to the catastrophic. It would be a mistake, however, to measure the influence of the amendment in statistical terms alone. Proposition 209 has put a chill on race relations in California, provided a road map to groups in other states with similar agendas, and challenged us to find alternative paths to justice for women and people of color in our society.

This article focuses on the impact of Proposition 209 on student admissions to California's public institutions of higher learning, but the measure affects faculty, administrators, and support staff as well. It is important to note also that the passage of Proposition 209 did not kill affirmative action in California. Some federal affirmative action programs remain in place for school districts and colleges receiving funds from the U.S. Department of Education. In March 1997, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley wrote:

I want to confirm that the passage of Proposition 209, which would generally prohibit affirmative action under state law for women and racial minorities, has not changed the obligation of school districts and colleges to abide by federal civil rights statutes in order to remain eligible to receive department funding, nor has it changed the obligations of schools participating in a small number of federal programs administered by the department to consider race, as appropriate, under the terms of those programs.

Riley went on to explain that the department's Office for Civil Rights will investigate any complaints of violations of federal statutes as state officials carry out the terms and conditions of Proposition 209. One such complaint has already been filed with regard to the University of California's admissions process.

Higher Education in California

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA HAS BECOME THE BATTLEground for affirmative action in higher education, and the battle lines have been drawn: because racial and gender preferences are "wrong," students given a place in the system's undergraduate, graduate, or professional schools on the basis of affirmative action take away a place that should have been awarded by more "legitimate and traditional means." Because of the value of admission to this elite system, the struggle has become politicized, and as the battle has intensified, considerations of sound educational policy have fallen by the wayside. With only a few exceptions, educators have been frozen out of the discussions, allowing political appointees of the governor to make the main decisions about affirmative action admissions to the UC system. With this development, shared governance has been pushed to the side, threatening an important element of academic culture.

The University of California is the jewel of California's threetiered public higher education system. When the California Master Plan for Higher Education was enacted in 1960, it was seen as a management tool to guard against unwarranted competition between the different tiers. An attendant function was to guarantee anyone who wanted a higher education the opportunity to get one.

In theory, the master plan gave people from the most humble beginnings access to the University of California and its graduate and professional schools. It was argued that ambitious students could advance to these schools from the community colleges. In reality, however, the master plan was flawed. While it was easy for people of color and the poor to obtain entry to community colleges, it was only after the inception of affirmative action efforts in 1964 that the doors were opened at the elite University of California system. Even so, the doors have been pushed only slightly ajar.

The issue of access to the university is not academic. In a stratified society, income, power, and prestige are scarce resources, and the scarcer the resource, the more valuable it becomes. Nowhere is this more true than in higher education, the most important route to wealth, power, and prestige. The University of California is arguably the most prestigious higher education institution in California, if not the country. If admission to higher education is a ticket to ride, then entry into the UC system is the ticket to ride first class. Graduation from one of the University of California campuses opens doors to California politics, economics, and beyond. The California legislature is full of graduates from the UC system, and a look at any list of California attorneys is reminiscent of a UC roll call. Among the system's prominent graduates are people as diverse as Timothy Leary, the 1960s LSD guru and flower-child leader; Steve Wozniak, cofounder of Apple Computer Systems; and Ralph Bunche, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. A Berkeley degree is particularly coveted, as is one from the system's professional schools, especially in law or medicine, because such degrees often guarantee a slot in the upper-middle or upper class. People of color want and need access to these same opportunities, and for the time being, elite universities are the main vehicle for obtaining them.