Inside Higher Education, "Quick Takes" July 30, 2007
The Missouri Civil Rights Initiative, which is organizing a referendum to ban affirmative action in public college admissions and other state activities, is suing state officials over changes in ballot language. Defenders of affirmative action have said that the language used in several successful campaigns against affirmative action isn’t clear on what is being banned, but initiative officials say that state leaders are trying to use the language to make affirmative action look good. http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/07/30/qt
The Missouri Civil Rights Initiative is as follows:
Official Ballot Language
THE MISSOURI CIVIL RIGHTS INITIATIVE
Be it resolved by the people of the State of Missouri that the Constitution be amended:
One new section is adopted to be known as section 34 of Article I, to read as follows:
Section 34. 1. The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.
2. This section shall apply only to action taken after the section's effective date. 3. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as prohibiting bona fide qualifications based on sex that are reasonably necessary to the normal operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. 4. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as invalidating any court order or consent decree that is in force as of the effective date of this section. 5. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as prohibiting action that must be taken to establish or maintain eligibility for any federal program, where ineligibility would result in a loss of federal funds to the state. 6. For the purposes of this section, "state" shall include, but not be necessarily limited to, the state itself and any of its departments, agencies, commissions, boards, and other units; any political subdivision and any department, agency, commission, board, or other unit of a political subdivision; any public institution of higher education, junior college district, and school district; any municipal corporation; and any public corporation, public entity, or other instrumentality of the state or a political subdivision, irrespective of the capacity in which the state or any such instrumentality or entity of the state shall be acting . 7. The remedies available for violations of this section shall be the same, regardless of the injured party's race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin, as are otherwise available for violations of then-existing Missouri antidiscrimination law. 8. This section shall be self-executing. If any part or parts of this section are found to be in conflict with federal law or the United State Constitution, the section shall be implemented to the maximum extent that federal law and the United States Constitution permit. Any provision held invalid shall be severable from the remaining portions of this section.
http://missouricri.org/ballotlanguage.html
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