Or at least its author Ward Connerly, the California activist who led the fight to take race out of public education admissions and contracting, is promising to take his campaign elsewhere and Nevada is one of the state’s he is thinking about taking it to, reports the Los Angeles Times. Connerly, who is black, is fresh off a victory in Michigan where a similar initiative passed with 58 percent of the vote earlier this month.
The tireless campaigner says that a wave is washing across the country that will finally outlaw all racial preferences. The issue had real traction in California and Michigan where the state universities are in the top 10 or 20 on most people’s lists of the best academic schools. That makes a UC or UM degree very valuable, or at leat highly prized, and admission is seriously competitive.
The campaign in Michigan was championed by Jennifer Gratz who sued UM saying she had been excluded because the school unconstitutionally gave preferences to African-Americans and other minorities. In a narrow decision, the Supremes ruled that race could still be a factor but had to be used in limited way and certainly without specific quotas (a 1978 case had already made that last part the law of the land). That decision meant Gratz didn’t get into Michigan and she was obviously ticked.
Connerly will have to look for states that have an initiative process, which already cuts his campaign territory by half, but Nevada and the other states he mentioned (Arizona, Utah, Missouri and South Dakota) have either smaller minority populations or less competitive state colleges or both, so it’s not clear what will kickstart the campaign unless conservative foundations pony up a lot of money.
The issue is a big one for businesses, especially tourist and gaming companies that have polished their images by emphasizing their diversity efforts. Every time one of these initiatives looks like taking off, government and business leaders lock arms to oppose it. In Florida, Gov. Jeb Bush headed an initiative off at the pass by taking a play from the Texas playbook. In both states, a certain percentage of high school graduates are guaranteed a free ride at state schools. With high schools that are often still de facto segregated, they can rustle up enough minority students to create some diversity in the student body.
But the big question is what kind of reception the power elite and Strip elite will give Connerly. Democrats still favor some form of affirmative action and Republicans are leery of alienating minorities although there’s some support in the rank-and-file for ending all affirmative action. But the big gaming companies have already given at the office. They will have to oppose any initiative to end affirmative action and they’re a big enemy to draw before the battle’s begun.
