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(DAILY_WILDCAT)

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Editorial
Arizona Daily Wildcat
February 6, 1998

Affirm this

Preying on the fears of California voters last year, a group of short-sighted, cynical pols attacked what they saw as a preponderance of race, gender and ethnic origin preferences in state government. The California voters, always quick to defend the rights of white people, went out and passed the euphemistically named California Civil Rights Initiative, Proposition 209.

There are 37 short-sighted, cynical pols wandering the halls of the Arizona Legislature sponsoring a bill modeled after the California proposition. These senators and representatives have signed on to the idea that Arizona's government needs to be purged of "preferential treatment (for) 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." That's the heart of Senate Concurrent Resolution 1005, a proposed constitutional amendment passed Tuesday by a party-line vote in a Senate committee. The bill still needs to pass the full Senate and the House of Representatives, and be signed by the governor before it can go to the voters as a referendum.

This long and unnecessary trip runs the risk of further damaging Arizona's image.

Our fair state became a national embarrassment back in the early 1990s, steadfastly refusing to make Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day a state holiday. We became national pariahs, a symbol of racial intolerance.

Now we run the risk of embarking, for no good reason, on a similar road.

The news from California is that minority enrollment at the state's universities has fallen as a result of the initiative. Not exactly a result a reasonable person would find attractive but, regardless, a direct result, if not a goal, of 209.

That couldn't happen here.

The University of Arizona doesn't use any sort of gender, race or national origin information in admitting its students. The disturbing consequence of Arizona's proposed legislation, UA administrators say, could be the effect on students who are already enrolled.

SCR 1005, if it ever became law, could affect the university's Office of Minority Student Services, which offers programming to help retain minority students. The OMSS helps 87 percent of UA minority students.

"There are a number of retention-based programs that would be affected, that would affect our ability to maintain and promote diversity on campus," said Tom Thompson, UA interim general counsel, and leader of an inquiry into the legal consequences of the proposed referendum.

It seems that our elected representatives think we're stupid and racist enough to ignore the possible negative consequences of allowing this proposed referendum to go forward, in favor of buying into their race-baiting.

We ought not stand for the slur.


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