New focus for Calif. foe of affirmative action
SACRAMENTO -- To the very end, Ward Connerly, the University of California regent whose quest for a colorblind society ended affirmative action in this state's public colleges, stood his ground.
In his final session as a member of the university's Board of Regents last month, he again provoked a debate about race-based admissions and, in effect, the legacy of his tumultuous 12-year tenure on the influential board, from which he steps down Feb. 28.
He beseeched his colleagues to resist "the temptation," as he put it, "to relax your attitude about the use of race. For God's sake, don't do it."
No other regent has been as controversial as Connerly, a wealthy Sacramento developer, who a decade ago launched a crusade against affirmative action, calling it a racial-spoils system that, he contends, undermines the very ideals of the civil rights movement.
"I believe we live in a merit-based society," Connerly said in an interview earlier this month. "When people aren't competing as well as others, I don't see it as inherently good or inherently bad -- as long as they had a fair chance to compete.
"I'm not trying to turn the clock back on anybody," added Connerly, who describes his heritage as black, Choctaw, Irish, and French. "I'm trying to empower people to take advantage of the opportunities that are out there."
But some civil rights leaders have taken exception, calling Connerly a turncoat who has undone decades of struggle to bring diversity to schools and other public institutions.
Connerly's crusade stirred passions on both sides of the affirmative action debate and led to passage of Proposition 209, the 1996 California ballot initiative outlawing the use of race and gender in public hiring and in public-college admissions.
"I think that if a white person had spearheaded this, it would not have succeeded," said Eva Paterson, president of the Equal Justice Society, a San Francisco-based civil rights group that has been among Connerly's harshest critics.
She welcomed his departure from the board of regents, a 25-member governing panel, including 18 members appointed by the governor for 12-year terms, that sets policy on such matters as tuition, admission, hiring, and academic standards for the 10-campus university system.
"Unfortunately, he is not going away," Paterson said. "He is now a national figure."
Already, Connerly has been busy in Michigan, where he is helping bankroll a ballot initiative that would similarly rewrite admissions criteria at public universities in that state, including the flagship Ann
"We know all about Mr. Connerly," said David Waymire, spokesman for Citizens for a United Michigan, a coalition opposed to the initiative, which is expected to appear on a statewide ballot next year.
A committee largely funded by Connerly contributed $546,000 of the $700,000 raised last year to gather signatures needed to qualify the initiative on the November 2006 ballot, according to the Detroit Free Press. The secretary of state's office is currently evaluating the 500,000 signatures that were submitted last month. To place a measure on the ballot, 317,000 valid signatures are needed.
Opponents of the measure say they have learned from California's experience -- from the Proposition 209 campaign, which revealed the disarray within the state's civil rights community, and the more recent battle over Proposition 54, the unsuccessful 2003 Connerly-sponsored initiative that sought to prohibit government agencies from collecting racial data.
"We learned that Mr. Connerly can be defeated," said Waymire.
After the passage of Proposition 209 in California, enrollment of blacks, Latinos, and other underrepresented minorities at the University of California's two most prestigious campuses, in Berkeley and Los Angeles, plummeted.
As a result, the university again tinkered with its admissions criteria, enacting three years ago a "comprehensive review" admissions process that takes into account not only grades and standardized tests, but also socioeconomic factors, noncurricular achievements, and other non-race details that define an applicant's background.
But despite the changes, enrollment among underrepresented minorities at Berkeley and Los Angeles has continued to lag. In the fall of 1997, before the implementation of Proposition 209, about a fourth of those offered admission to the Berkeley campus were from underrepresented groups; the next year, the percentage dropped to 11 percent, and last year the percentage was 14.8 percent.
Universitywide, however, admission offers to underrepresented minorities have remained at about a fifth of the total.
"I think he's been badly mistreated," said John J. Moores, a frequent Connerly ally on the board of regents. "Ward is essentially a good soul. The problem is that this guy has been overly idealistic in thinking that California should be and could be colorblind."
In 1997, Connerly surprised critics and allies alike when he successfully pushed for extending health benefits to same-sex domestic partners of university employees. "It was not about preferences, but about equal benefits," Connerly explained.
"With me being gone now, they will have fewer eyes watching them," Connerly said of the University of California.
But he added: "I am delighted to be going off the board of regents. Now, I will have more time to torment my detractors than I ever had."
