Affirmative Action in the News - October 28, 2004

Affirmative Action in the News

Americans for a Fair Chance - Affirmative Action in the News
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1) The Detroit News: article, Univ. of Michigan tries to recruit more
black students
2) The Los Angeles Times: article, report criticizes UC's lack of
minority admissions
3) Daily Californian: article, speakers at UC-Berkeley debate race and
education
4) The Star-Ledger: article, minority contractors await decision on
affirmative action program in New jersey
5) PRNewswire: article, white man wins employment discrimination case


1) U-M Fights To Recruit More Blacks
John Wisely
Article, The Detroit News
October 26, 2004
"Beneque Cousin appreciates the University of Michigan's efforts to
promote diversity, but she was disappointed to learn her freshman class
was only 5 percent black.

She can see the impact of that statistic in her chemistry lab of about
25 students.

"I'm the only person of color in the class," said Cousin, an
African-American freshman from West Bloomfield. "It's definitely a
numbers thing. I don't feel I'm being marginalized. I know they are
trying to do a lot." "

http://lccr.convio.net/site/R?i=lGAqJ5twMWQkkXtYQtUwLw.. - full article


2) Declining Minority Admissions Rate at UC Is Criticized
Rebecca Trounson
Article, The Los Angeles Times
October 27, 2004
"A report by a think tank specializing in Latino issues has strongly
criticized the University of California for the declining percentages of
African American and Latino students admitted to its campuses this year,
saying the university risks stratifying its campuses along racial lines.

The report released Tuesday by USC's Tomas Rivera Policy Institute
focused on the lower acceptance rates for African American and Latino
applicants to UC since California voters banned the consideration of
race in admissions decisions at public institutions in 1996.

Institute President Harry Pachon urged UC officials to redouble their
efforts to increase minority representation and to make admissions
policies more understandable to the public. He also called on state
legislators to increase funding for the university's outreach programs.

The institute calculated what it called "aggregated campus acceptance
rates," showing that the percentage of Latino applicants accepted at UC
campuses dropped from 68% in 1995 to 45% in 2003. For African American
students, the rate fell from 58% in 1995 to 35% in 2003. The declines
were most precipitous at UC's most competitive campuses, Berkeley and
Los Angeles, the report showed."
http://lccr.convio.net/site/R?i=DaUP6RIXjU8kkXtYQtUwLw.. - full story


3) Speakers Feud Over Race And Education
Jennifer Jamall
Article, Daily Californian
October 28, 2004
"About a hundred students and Berkeley residents crammed into an
auditorium yesterday at the Boalt Hall School of Law to revisit a
long-divisive subject in the UC system: whether race should be
considered as a factor in the UC admissions process."

"Two panelists, a civil rights lawyer and the co-author of Proposition
209, butted heads over the effects of the passage of the proposition-a
1996 initiative that banned public universities in California from
granting preferential treatment based on race in admissions."

"California is a majority-minority state, and now we are faced with the
possibility of having a California with the best public education
options being reserved for the white minority." Driver said."



http://lccr.convio.net/site/R?i=IBCSuzu7bB4kkXtYQtUwLw.. - full story


4) Minority Firms Await Decision On Set-Asides
Beth Fitzgerald
Article, The Star-Ledger
October 26, 2004
"New Jersey's minority- and women-owned businesses will find out early
next year whether the state is going to try to resurrect an affirmative
action program for government contractors that was canceled more than a
year ago.

The state awards about $2 billion a year in contracts to business, and
used to set aside 7 percent of that business for minority-owned firms, 3
percent for women-owned firms and 15 percent for small business.

In July 2003 the state scrapped set-asides to settle a lawsuit that
challenged the constitutionality of the program, and for the past year
has been analyzing the state's contracting program. Set-asides have been
replaced by a race and gender neutral program earmarking 25 percent of
state contracts for small business."

http://lccr.convio.net/site/R?i=WD1RKgjU-BQkkXtYQtUwLw.. - full article


5) White Male Wins Employment Discrimination Case
Hanan Isaacs
Article, PRNewswire
October 26, 2004
"Princeton attorney Hanan M. Isaacs has settled the nationally
significant employment discrimination case of Michael C. Ryan, who
alleged that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) repeatedly passed
him over for promotion because he was white and male. The case pitted
merit promotion principles against the FAA's unlawful affirmative action
program. Mr. Ryan's employment discrimination case is part of a national
trend of non-minorities in federal employment who were passed over for
promotion because of their gender and skin color."
http://lccr.convio.net/site/R?i=dAgOpWMDku4kkXtYQtUwLw.. - full article

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of this email publication with full attribution is encouraged.