|
|
|
More Photos from the Save the Dream Freedom Bus Tour
Note: Proposition 209 passed in California in Nov., 1997.
Affirmative action programs nationwide continue to be the target of anti-civil
rights and anti-women's rights groups.
 |
Eleanor Smeal on Proposition 209: "This is the opening war to roll
back civil rights and women's rights in this nation."
|
 |
|
Feminist Majority president Eleanor Smeal and United Farm
Workers vice president and Feminist Majority board member Dolores Huerta
speak to students about Proposition 209 and how it would hurt women and
people of color by outlawing affirmative action and gutting sex discrimination
law in California
Ellie Smeal: "Proposition 209 is deceptive because it is titled on the
ballot as a 'Prohibition Against Discrimination or Preferential Treatment.'
Unless they know better, average people who support women's rights and
civil rights could walk into the booth and vote for this measure. But
lawyers across the state, including the independent, nonpartisan California
legislative analyst, have conlcuded that Proposition 209 would abolish
affirmative action. we must alert California voters to the threat this
dangerous measure poses to equal opportunity for women and people of color."
|
"Proposition 209...aims to take away our civil rights. It aims to close
the doors of opportunity that have opened for us. To take away maternity
benefits."
- Dolores Huerta |
|
|
|
According to estimates in a report commission by the provost
of the University of California, abolishing affirmative actionprograms at
UCLA and UC Berkeley would result in a 50-70 percent drop in the number
of African Americans, Latinos andNative Americans enrolled.The report estimates
that, if race was not allowed as a factor in admissions, thenumber of African
Americans at UCLA would drop from 250 to 75-115. By contrast, the number
of white students at UCLA would increase from 1,236 to 1,470-1,565. UC professors
have noted that increased diversity of ethnicity has improved their campuses
and that academic standards remain high. "The quality of the UC experience
itself is enhanced having to interact with ... students of different backgrounds,"
said UCLA's vice-chancellor for student affairs Winston Dolby. "I do believe
that UCLA and UC Berkeley ... will suffer as a consequence of these outcomes.
They will beless diverse. And qualitatively speaking, we lose."
Source: Los Angeles Times -- October 1, 1996
|
More Bus Tour Photos
Affirmative Action Information Center
Copyright 2000, The Feminist Majority Foundation and New Media Publishing
Inc.
|
