Vote sought on race quotas
Petitions in motion for 2000

Sunday, May 23, 1999

By Mary MacDonald
Times-Union staff writer

Petitions that would place a challenge to affirmative action on the general election ballot in 2000 began circulating last week, and are expected soon to arrive in Jacksonville.

But the real push for initial signatures will focus on the Tampa Bay area.

The signature campaign begun Monday by Californian Ward Connerly proposes to end consideration of race, sex, color, ethnicity and national origin in state college admissions, and in government contracts and employment.

The first step, getting the language of the ballot question authorized by the state Supreme Court, will begin after 45,000 certified signatures are collected in three congressional districts, said Herb Harmon, a Tallahassee consultant who is acting as senior adviser.

The campaign, described by opponents as divisive and unnecessary, would make Florida the latest front in a national debate over continuance of affirmative action policies.

Even as the Florida ballot initiative moved forward, scholars and social scientists on Friday released a report through Stanford University that advocates the continued use of race as a factor in college admissions.

The report, ''Compelling Interest: Examining the Evidence on Racial Dynamics in Higher Education,'' argues that past racial inequities have not been resolved, and that to adopt race-neutral policies is to disregard the reality of continuing discrimination.

The report, authored by professors at four universities, also encourages colleges to look beyond standardized tests as the best measure of academic potential.

A 100-point difference on the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), for example, roughly translates into a 5 percent difference in class rank - not a big difference, said Linda Wightman, of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

''It's really not as clear-cut and objective as one might think,'' she said.

Opponents of affirmative action policies in higher education, including Connerly, argue that considering race in admissions is discriminatory because it propels students who otherwise would not be accepted into selective universities and programs, and leaves others behind.

In Jacksonville, advocates of affirmative action have begun to discuss how to mount a campaign to counter the Connerly initiative. The Jacksonville Urban League, which has had several meetings on the issue, plans to schedule a public forum on affirmative action.

''We need to be real in America,'' said Bob Ingram of Jacksonville, a member of the advisory committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. ''Segregation was real in America. Denial of opportunity was real in America.''

To reach the ballot, the Florida initiative will eventually need 435,000 valid signatures.

The campaign, called the Florida Civil Rights Initiative, has raised $50,000 to $75,000 so far, Harmon said, about 75 percent of what he estimates is needed to collect the first signatures.

Most of the contributions have come from contractors, he said. Under state rules, the first campaign finance report must be filed by July 10.

Because the state has a single-issue requirement for ballot initiatives, signatures are being collected on four different petitions.

One covers the full scope of the initiative. The rest individually address college admissions, government contracts and government employment, in the event the broader question is rejected by the court, Harmon said.

A Sacramento-based firm hired by Connerly to collect the signatures has decided to focus initially on the counties surrounding Tampa Bay, including Hillsborough and Pinellas, Harmon said.

Although he has sent petitions to Jacksonville supporters of the initiative, Harmon said he does not expect a large-scale effort until the ballot language has been approved.

He would not disclose who requested the petitions, and predicts that once the campaign reports are filed in July, supporters may find themselves on the defensive.

''Any group that supports this effort is going to come under public scrutiny, and I'm sure, public criticism.''

Copyright © 1999 by The Florida Times-Union 1999