Reserv*ir
11-04-2010, 02:24 AM
Arizona Bans Affirmative Action
November 3, 2010
Arizona voters on Tuesday approved Proposition 107 to ban the consideration of race, ethnicity or gender by units of state government, including public colleges and universities. With 2,075 of 2,239 precincts reporting as of early Wednesday morning, unofficial results from the state had the measure passing with just under 60 percent support.
California, Michigan, Nebraska and Washington State have already imposed such bans. Only one state --- Colorado -- has rejected in a statewide vote a proposed ban on the consideration of race and ethnicity.
In states such as California and Michigan, the bans led to sharp drops in the admission and enrollment of black and Latino students at flagship universities, although those institutions have made progress since the initial votes in diversifying their student bodies through race-neutral methods. In those states, however, undergraduate admission to the flagships is highly competitive. In Arizona, a populist approach to admissions means that all students who meet certain criteria are admitted -- without consideration of race or ethnicity. And as a result, university officials have said that undergraduate enrollments should not materially change.
However, Arizona's universities -- like most institutions -- have many programs for minority students, some of which could be challenged. Just in August, for instance, Arizona State University announced new summer fellowships in digital media for minority students.
....
At a campus talk in September, Robert Shelton, the university's president, vowed to find new ways to recruit diverse students if Prop 107 passed. But in a sign of the periodically bitter debate over Prop 107, supporters of the ban on affirmative action issued a press release saying that if Shelton really believes in affirmative action, he should quit his job so a minority individual could take it.
Generally, critics of affirmative action have argued in Arizona that it is no longer needed. An editorial in The Arizona Republic endorsing Prop 107 said: "Affirmative action wasn't meant to be a perpetual-motion machine. The policy served an important purpose, making up for missing opportunities in education and the workplace. But over time, the drawbacks have come to outweigh the advantages. Voters should pull the plug."
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/11/03/arizona
Comments spark an interesting 'debate'.
I feel like it could be risking possible 'attendance numbers' to AZ schools (as in, not as many people apply and such), but I'm glad they're actively going with a 'race-neutral' approach to admissions.
What do you think?
November 3, 2010
Arizona voters on Tuesday approved Proposition 107 to ban the consideration of race, ethnicity or gender by units of state government, including public colleges and universities. With 2,075 of 2,239 precincts reporting as of early Wednesday morning, unofficial results from the state had the measure passing with just under 60 percent support.
California, Michigan, Nebraska and Washington State have already imposed such bans. Only one state --- Colorado -- has rejected in a statewide vote a proposed ban on the consideration of race and ethnicity.
In states such as California and Michigan, the bans led to sharp drops in the admission and enrollment of black and Latino students at flagship universities, although those institutions have made progress since the initial votes in diversifying their student bodies through race-neutral methods. In those states, however, undergraduate admission to the flagships is highly competitive. In Arizona, a populist approach to admissions means that all students who meet certain criteria are admitted -- without consideration of race or ethnicity. And as a result, university officials have said that undergraduate enrollments should not materially change.
However, Arizona's universities -- like most institutions -- have many programs for minority students, some of which could be challenged. Just in August, for instance, Arizona State University announced new summer fellowships in digital media for minority students.
....
At a campus talk in September, Robert Shelton, the university's president, vowed to find new ways to recruit diverse students if Prop 107 passed. But in a sign of the periodically bitter debate over Prop 107, supporters of the ban on affirmative action issued a press release saying that if Shelton really believes in affirmative action, he should quit his job so a minority individual could take it.
Generally, critics of affirmative action have argued in Arizona that it is no longer needed. An editorial in The Arizona Republic endorsing Prop 107 said: "Affirmative action wasn't meant to be a perpetual-motion machine. The policy served an important purpose, making up for missing opportunities in education and the workplace. But over time, the drawbacks have come to outweigh the advantages. Voters should pull the plug."
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/11/03/arizona
Comments spark an interesting 'debate'.
I feel like it could be risking possible 'attendance numbers' to AZ schools (as in, not as many people apply and such), but I'm glad they're actively going with a 'race-neutral' approach to admissions.
What do you think?