Petition drive off to misleading start
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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.
Funds to pay the petition circulators largely come from out of state. Of the $181,000 reported in donations, about $120,000 came from the California-based organization that is behind efforts in several states. Another $50,000 came from New York businessman Paul Singer.
As Nic Swiercek, a UNL graduate student and member of the anti-petition group Students United for Nebraska put it, “Nebraskans don’t like people from out of state trying to come in and change our constitution.”
And that goes double when the people collecting the signatures on petitions are using deception to meet their goals.
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If there were a program that were designed to specificaly favor the white race, wouldn't it becalled discriminatory? My favorite litmus test for things like this are to substitute the word white for hispanic, black or other races,,, see what I mean? "
(1) Admissions to graduate and professional programs at UN are often highly competitive, and preferences have a significant impact on the admission of non-minority students. And even undergrad admissions in UNL uses preferences. While white students usually have to meet admission requirements, such requirements are far more frequently waived for minorities.
(2) Several campuses in the University of California system have nationally recognized Latino/Chicano recruitment programs. The LJS could have learned that in five minutes, had they cared about the truth. There is no excuse for reproducing the malicious falsehood that Kearney could not have a Latino recruitment coordinator. Kearney can go out and do outreach to Latino communities; it can make UNK as an attractive place as it wants for Latinos to attend. It just can't discriminate in admissions or scholarships. Why is that so difficult to understand?
(3) Scholarships designated exclusively for one race, using public money, are already illegal. Less than a month ago, the USSC upheld a decision of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals striking down such a program at the University of Maryland. "
Outsiders do not have the power to amend the Nebraska Constitution. Only the People of Nebraska have the power to do so by voting for the Civil Rights Initiative. I signed the petition to put the Civil Rights Initiative on the ballot because I believe the people--not the University and not the media, but the people--should have an opportunity to vote on this very important issue.
It is easy--if you are opposed to government using race to decide who gets a job, who gets into law school or medical school, and who gets a scholarship, you should support the Civil Rights Initiative. The Civil Rights Initiative stands for a basic right--the right to be protected from racial discrimination imposed by your own government. It is an idea Nebraskans will almost certainly vote for if given the opportunity to vote. Let's let the People decide! "
Since when is it illegal to level the playing field so everyone, no matter of gender or race, has an equal chance at everything? This is exactly what the equal rights amendment does. It does not play favorites like the detractors like to claim. "
universal day-care, and other similarly socially progressive causes. My boss was an operative in the Democratic party.
Among our usually socially aware petitions though were a few meant to inscribe
laws exactly the opposite from what they seemed on the surface to state.
Prejudice and discrimination are so ubiquitous in Lincoln and NE that
race and other factors are going to be taken into consideration one way
or another. Folks just seem completely incapable of allowing others
to be who they are and appreciating them for it. The concept of
respecting privacy and boundaries is just not something that registers
with most residents or bureaucrats here. Everyone believes in mindless meddling for its own sake and cannot see the damage they are doing by not just kindly minding
their own business. "
standards, of course. I was accepted into a competitive, graduate progam at UNL with %100 fellowship UNTIL
they found out through dishonest channels I might represent a version of diversity they preferred to keep out. "
"People who want to sign this": Though the term "quota" and the blatant discrimination it implies has seemingly been removed, the idea and practice of "racial preferences" still remains in most states, completely legally and endorsed by the Supreme Court. Also legal is each state's ability to decide not to tolerate "preferences", after extensive research and, again, numerous studies that support the idea that most minorities, and society in general, would benefit more if we eliminated attempts to single people out, accepting or excluding them, based on minority status alone. "
a multi-lingual, cross-cultural world. Students and workers exposed to diversity also do better on critical thinking assessments and show better social and interpersonal skills. "
But I'm not holding my breath. "
You cannot argue against the INTENT and CONTENT of the matter in question, so NU's pathetic radio commercials resort to SCARE TACTICS about the personal information given by those who sign the petition.
The same info could be gleaned from THE PHONE BOOK! You, Scoundrels.
The Journal Star is obviously left-wing fish wrap. Social engineering is a proven disaster, and race/gender preferences in this day and age is an outrage. "
"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."
You are saying the proposal to prevent race and gender discrimination WILL prevent race and gender discrimination.
Where is the "trick"?
When affirmative action USES racial discrimination (to create opportunities, etc.) it is NOT ENDING racial discrimination. "