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Florida Governor Axes Affirmative Action
By Hans Johnson
On November 9 Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) announced a proposal to bar consideration of race as a factor in admissions decisions at the state’s public colleges and universities. The move came amid pressure from University of California regent Ward Connerly, who is spearheading a drive in the Sunshine State to ban race-conscious affirmative action measures in higher education. In his home state, Connerly led a successful 1996 ballot-measure campaign to stop affirmative action on public campuses and has backed similar initiatives in other states, including Washington.
In announcing his decision, Bush argued that affirmative action programs are "too often correctly viewed as an unfair advantage" for people of color. A leader of the state’s Rainbow Coalition, however, called Bush’s action unrealistic and hurtful. "There’s a false perception that Florida government has been giving preferential treatment to black folks," David Mack told the Associated Press. "Race should be one factor, not the sole factor," he asserted. Following Bush’s announcement, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) urged the Departments of Education, Labor, and Transportation to pressure Bush to delay implementation of the plan, set to take effect in fall 2000.
As an alternative to race-sensitive admissions, Bush proposed disbursing more state financial aid to students as well as automatically admitting to state universities the top 20 percent of graduating seniors at all state high schools. Florida university officials estimate that adopting the "top-twenty" policy would make about twelve hundred new minority students eligible for admission to state universities. They cautioned, though, that a large proportion of the newly eligible high school graduates, regardless of color, may require remedial coursework in order to meet entrance expectations.
AAUP counsel Jonathan Alger notes that the new proposals "do address some concerns raised by cutting off race-conscious affirmative action." He warns, however, that Bush’s alternatives "focus only on undergraduate admissions and leave important questions unanswered at both ends of the educational spectrum." He cites disparities in student preparation at the K–12 level as well as in access to graduate schools, which Bush’s plan fails to address. "Persisting inequalities will not disappear with the stroke of a pen," says Alger.
In mid-November the Florida board of regents asked Adam Herbert, Jr., the chancellor of the State University System of Florida, to provide more details about how the plan might affect minority enrollments. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports, however, that many board members expect to endorse Bush’s proposal, possibly as early as the end of January. It must then be approved by the state’s board of education.
This year Bush also signed into law a statewide bill allowing vouchers for private and parochial schools. The state voucher law, a first of its kind in the nation, faces a legal challenge in Florida district court by teacher unions and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Activists on both sides await a trial some time this winter.Nota Bene: Carnegie Classification Revises Standards
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