Washington faces end of affirmative action

During the past two years, opponents of affirmative action have worked to outlaw the use of race as a factor in admissions, contracting and hiring processes in California and Texas. Going along with this trend, Washington state Rep. Scott Smith currently is working to place an initiative on the ballot in the state of Washington that would eliminate the use of racial preferences.

Washington's Initiative 200 is similar to California's Proposition 209, which banned affirmative action in 1996 and resulted in a decrease in minority acceptances to state universities. Washington citizens most likely will have the chance to vote on Initiative 200 in the November elections.

While advocates of Initiative 200 say it would end discrimination, officials at the University of Washington said they hope that the initiative will fail, claiming Initiative 200 would decrease minority representation in higher education.

"People in America want to get rid of preferences and discrimination," said Smith, who has collected the most signatures for an initiative in the state's history. "Everyone wants to be treated the same - one people, one nation."

Last March, the Center for Individual Rights filed a reverse discrimination lawsuit against the University of Washington's Law School, challenging the use of race as a factor in the school's admissions policies. CIR, which filed two similar lawsuits against the University this past fall, eliminated racial classifications in Texas by winning in the case of Hopwood v. the University of Texas Law School.

Bob Edie, University of Washington's vice president for university relations, said that in addition to the threat the lawsuit poses, Initiative 200 may be detrimental to the school's goal of maintaining a diverse student body.

"We're deeply concerned about it," Edie said. "We have a very good affirmative action program and we're worried about what it would do to our diversity on campus."

If voted into law by a majority of Washington voters, Initiative 200 "prohibits government from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to individuals or groups based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in public employment, public education or public contracting."

Smith, who has failed to pass the initiative through the state legislature as a bill three times, said the initiative will undoubtedly pass with the voters. Smith cited a recent poll that indicated that 69 percent of the population favors Initiative 200 while only 16 percent oppose it.

"I don't have any question that it will pass," Smith said. "In California, the most diverse state in the nation, they passed it by 54 percent. There's not doubt that it will pass in Washington."

Lujuana Treadwell, assistant dean of the University of California's Bolt Hall Law School, said Proposition 209 has already diminished the minority population at Bolt Hall and Initiative 200 could do the same in Washington.

"It's been very traumatic for us," Treadwell said. "The current second-year class has 20 African Americans and the freshman class has one. The university is not happy with a decline in minority enrollment. We regret the loss of it and are seeking alternative methods."

In the Michigan state Legislature, Sen. David Jaye (R-Macomb), who helped spearhead the lawsuit filed against the University College of Literature, Science and the Arts last October, has raised the question of ending preferences with legislation. Rep. Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor) said she and many other legislators will defend affirmative action programs.

"I think it's easy to grandstand on these issues," Brater said. An initiative "is not the best arena to discuss the issues. I know there have been proposals discussed. I really hope we, as policy makers, encourage our universities to further racial and socioeconomic diversity so everyone can succeed."

Myron Apilado, vice president for minority affairs at the University of Washington, said many people do not understand the ramifications of these types of initiatives, but the effects will be omnipresent in the future.

"Five years down the line, they'll find out how Hopwood affected education and contracting. They'll find out what I-200 will do and there will be a lot of outrage."

02-24-98