Ban on Preferences Succeeds in Nebraska; Colorado Measure Remains Undecided

The Chronicle of Higher Education
November 5, 2008

By REEVES WIEDEMAN
Voters in Nebraska approved a measure that will ban affirmative-action programs based on race, gender, and national origin at public institutions, including colleges, while a similar vote in Colorado was too close to call, and Michigan residents relaxed that state’s restrictions on embryonic-stem-cell research.
Those measures were among 19 referenda related to higher education that voters in 15 states were deciding on Tuesday. The ballot questions included proposals to create state lotteries to finance scholarships and questions about whether to issue bonds to pay for campus construction.
In 11 states, voters also elected governors. Democrats won seven of those races, and Republicans four. Among the new state executives voted into office was Jay Nixon, a Democrat of Missouri who proposed to offer scholarships worth four years of tuition to students who begin their education at a community college, maintain a certain grade-point average, and perform community service; and Beverly E. Perdue, a Democrat of North Carolina who has called for significantly expanding a need-based scholarship program for community-college students.
Bans on Preferences
The affirmative-action measures in Colorado and Nebraska, which were advocated by the same organization that won passage of a similar measure in Michigan two years ago (The Chronicle, November 17, 2006), called for prohibiting the use of race, gender, or national origin in public employment, public education, and public contracting.
Many higher-education leaders in Colorado and Nebraska had publicly opposed the proposals, and university officials in both states said a ban would force them to consider significant changes in their operations, such as eliminating or altering financial-aid programs that benefit women or minority students.
“We believe the impact could be quite broad,” said James B. Milliken, president of the University of Nebraska system. “We’re not prepared to say any of these programs would have to be eliminated, but we will have to review any policies related to race or gender.”
The Nebraska proposal, however, faces a legal challenge. A lawsuit alleging that signatures needed to get the measure on the ballot were illegally obtained has yet to be decided. Should the challenge be upheld, it would invalidate the vote. Both sides in the case have said they would appeal an unfavorable decision to the state’s Supreme Court. [Full story: http://chronicle.com/free/2008/11/6652n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en]