National Implications of California’s
Proposition 54-type Initiatives
Alma R. Clayton-Pedersen, co-director, Irvine
CDI Evaluation Project, and vice president for Education
and Institutional Renewal
While defeated, the very appearance of Proposition
54 on the recall ballot in California should prompt
national vigilance in defeating similar efforts if they
surface elsewhere. Officially known as the Classification
by Race, Ethnicity, Color, or National Origin (CRECNO)
constitutional amendment, proposition 54 was promoted
as the “Racial Privacy Initiative.” Its
resounding defeat signaled Californians’ recognition
of the negative impact it would have had on the efforts
of its schools and colleges to achieve educational equity
for underrepresented students. If passed the legislation
would have prohibited state and local governments from
using race, ethnicity, color, or national origin to
classify current or prospective students, contractors,
or employees in public education, contracting or employment
operations. We believe it is likely that Prop 54’s
defeat is not the end of these battles. If other states
pursue similar efforts, they will undermine educators’
efforts to engage diversity as a means of enriching
both student and organizational learning.
Supporters of CRECNO argued that to eliminate the knowledge
of an applicant’s racial, ethnic, color, and national
origin would ultimately make the disparity in education
and employment opportunities disappear. CRECNO opponents
were concerned that the legislation would result in
the loss of a decade of data critical to determining
if progress had in fact been made in closing the gap
that all agree exists in access to high quality education;
academic achievement; health care, employment access,
and home ownership.
Presidential Professor Jeannie Oakes of the University
of California, Los Angeles strongly voiced her opposition
to the legislation and disagreed that exemptions allowed
for the collection of federally required data would
address opponents concerns. She states:
Without complete information and good research, policymakers,
educators, and the public won’t know why we have
such terrible racial gaps in school achievement and
college going. Even worse, without this information,
we can’t fix the problems that perpetuate the
gaps … [we’ll] simply have to guess about
what policies to revise and what services to provide.
Educators, health care associations, and social science
researchers alike have been strong in their criticism
of this legislation. The American Sociological Association
agrees that to measure the different experiences, treatment,
and outcomes of various races is essential to track
inequalities, inform policymaking, and achieve social
justice. It concludes:
Refusing to acknowledge the fact of racial classification,
feelings, and actions, and refusing to measure their
consequences will not eliminate racial inequalities.
At best it will preserve the status quo (ASA, 2003,
2).
Just as many campuses are learning how diversity contributes
to all students’ learning, and recognizing that
their viability relies on this institutional learning,
Prop 54-type legislation would communicate that collecting
such data would be both unimportant and illegal. Indeed,
the lessons that the CDI campuses have learned come
in part from collecting data about their students, faculty
and staff and disaggregated it by race, ethnicity, and
gender. Prohibiting the collection and use of such data
would deal a substantial blow to educational improvement
efforts. Given the demography of our nation, such data
is vital to ensuring access to high quality education
and academic success for all citizens.
Recent studies of discrimination in housing, employment,
and our criminal justice system provide ample evidence
that racial discrimination is alive and well in the
U.S. Until the nation can eliminate bigotry and prejudice,
we will have to rely on studies using disaggregated
data to ensure that all citizens are being treated equitably.
Until we achieve this democratic ideal, passage of Prop
54 -type legislation would threaten our nation’s
economic, political, and cultural well-being.
Source
American Sociological Association. 2003. The importance
of collecting data and doing social scientific research
on race. Washington, DC: ASA.
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