Equality Advocate Blasts Compromise Exempting Michigan Schools From Prop. 2
by Jim Brown
December 27, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The University of Michigan and other state universities are being allowed to continue with their gender-based and race-based admissions policies, despite a new state law banning certain types of affirmative action. Last month, Michigan residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of Proposal 2, a measure that bars the state from granting preferences based on skin color or gender in public contracting, employment, and education. However, three universities -- University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University -- sued to block implementation of Prop. 2, arguing that it would be difficult to change their policies in the middle of an admissions cycle.
The new law was supposed to go into effect December 22. Now, however, an agreement has been reached between the universities and Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, allowing the schools to delay implementation of Prop. 2 until July. But Roger Clegg, president and general counsel for the Center for Equal Opportunity, calls the agreement "disappointing" and says it thwarts Michigan voters.
"The people in Michigan have spoken; they want this discrimination to stop, and I don't think there's any good reason to let it continue," Clegg says. The principle of non-discrimination should not take a back seat to administrative convenience for university bureaucrats, he asserts.
"The attorney general is committed to defending the fundamental guarantees of Proposal 2," the Center for Equal Opportunity spokesman continues. "The disappointment," he says, "is that [the state official] seems to be willing to let the universities go for a few months before they start to follow it, and I don't think that decision makes sense."
Michigan voters knew when they overwhelmingly passed Proposal 2 that the effective date for the anti-affirmative action measure was this month and not six months from now, Clegg points out. For that reason and numerous others, he feels the Michigan universities should not be granted a special exemption.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
