UC Urges Supreme Court To Uphold Texas Affirmative Action Policy
BERKELEY (KCBS) – The University of California is urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to make Texas suffer the same lack of diversity that it argues has plagued UC ever since the passage of Proposition 209.
One of the major Supreme Court cases of the fall will be Fisher vs. University of Texas, in which a white student said UT's policy of considering the race of applicants discriminates against her, by giving preference to minorities.
KCBS' Doug Sovern Reports:
Now, University of California President Mark Yudof and 10 chancellors have filed a friend of the court brief, urging the Supreme Court to uphold the Texas policy.
Yudof said the passage of Proposition 209 in California in 1996 has had a "dramatic adverse effect" on UC and that its struggled to maintain diversity on campuses, ever since affirmative action was banned by the measure.
But former UC Regent Ward Connerly, who led the campaign for Prop 209, scoffs at Yudof's claim.
"Walk on any UC campus and you'll see students from all around the globe," Connerly said. "And it's just disingenuous to say that UC is not diverse. The fact is they don't think they have enough black students."
In a statement, President Yudof said there's been a big drop in black, Latino and Native American students. He and other UC officials declined to be interviewed for this story.
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