Petition drive off to misleading start

Tuesday, Jun 10, 2008 - 12:52:25 am CDT

Workers circulating petitions to end affirmative action in Nebraska have dishonored the citizen initiative process by using misleading tactics.The disreputable actions add another to a list of reasons to oppose the measure proposed by Californian Ward Connerly and supporters.Nebraskans commonly report being approached by clipboard-carrying circulators who ask whether they will sign a petition to end gender and race discrimination in Nebraska.It’s a trick.The proposal would amend the Nebraska Constitution to prevent race, ethnicity and gender from being taken into account in hiring, scholarship or contract decisions made by public agencies.Officials from the University of Nebraska and state colleges say the proposed amendment would jeopardize outreach programs aimed at recruiting more minority students.A position for a Latino recruitment coordinator at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, who has been successful in increasing the number of Latino students on that campus, might need to be eliminated, for example.Scholarships designated for African American students would be out. Exchange programs with historically black colleges might be eliminated.Those programs generally falling under the label of affirmative action were designed in many cases out of recognition that minority children too often start out at a disadvantage in life. The negative effect of historical and existing discrimination may have diminished, but it has not yet been erased.The movement promoted by Connerly has roots in situations that are quite different than Nebraska. In California, for example, there are more college applications than the system can handle. In Nebraska that is not the case. Any student who meets admission requirements can attend the University of Nebraska. There are no quotas.The minority recruitment programs also benefit students at the University of Nebraska by providing a more varied and robust educational environment that more closely mirrors the ethnically diverse world that students will encounter after graduation. [To read the entire article, go to: http://journalstar.com/articles/2008/06/13/opinion/editorial/doc484da801e03dc740239896.txt ]