By Talia AlbertsThe Daily Northwestern
Despite recent efforts in three states, including Michigan, to end affirmative action policies, civil rights activists in Illinois say similar changes are not on the horizon.
Black California businessman Ward Connerly is funding initiatives across the country to stop affirmative action, an effort that has worked in California, Washington and, since November, Michigan.
The new legislation bans any programs “that give preferential treatment to groups or individuals based on their race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin for public employment, education or contracting purposes.”
The University of Michigan delayed its admissions process because of the proposal and recently issued a press release saying it would work on ways to continue “pursuing diversity within these new constraints.”
Connerly’s organization, the American Civil Rights Institute, plans to target as many as two dozen more states in the future. One could be Illinois, according to an article in the Washington Times.
But Ed Yohnka, communications director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said passing a similar law in Illinois would be difficult because of the state’s complicated ballot initiative process. Only one initiative has qualified in the past 30 years.
The ACLU traditionally has supported affirmative action, Yohnka said.
“We think that affirmative action is a reasonable and appropriate means to take to level a historically unlevel playing field,” Yohnka said.
He said that if such a measure were to appear on an Illinois ballot, the ACLU would work with colleagues “educating and informing the people of Illinois.”
Julian Hill, president of For Members Only, Northwestern’s black student alliance, said he does “not think that a law like (Michigan’s) is necessary,” though he would support an amended system “so that people who aren’t worthy are not hired.”
Hill, a Weinberg junior, said he has mixed feelings about affirmative action.
“I think that (affirmative action is) important if it’s done in a way that is really going to help the students out,” Hill said. “If it’s something just to add some color to the university and there’s nothing to support them, then it’s setting them up for failure.”
Director of Undergraduate Admissions Keith Todd said NU does “use affirmative action in concurrence with current state and federal law.” Todd said affirmative action is a good tool for enhancing diversity and giving opportunities to students from less privileged backgrounds.
NU’s affirmative action policies are revisited each year, Todd said. If a law were passed in Illinois, its effect on NU would “depend on how the law is phrased; some laws affect only state institutions and others are broader and affect higher institutions.”
“We want to cast a wide net,” Todd said. “We want diversity in so many categories: geography, background, major, school environment, whether someone is the first generation to go to college in their family. It is a much broader set of thoughts than just one category.”
Reach Talia Alberts at [email protected].
