It's been a long hot summer for affirmative action in California. It seemed graduation day served as the starting gun for what many have dubbed a full-scale assault on affirmative action programs by Governor Pete Wilson.
Berkeley Regent Ward Connerly set the stage for the summer onslaught in May by calling for an end to race-based preferences in the University of California system.
"Affirmative action was justified 20 years ago," he said "but now people don't subscribe to it."
A fierce debate ensued.
For a while it seemed Connerly would have to face the wrath of affirmative action supporters alone, but Wilson soon stepped forward to take on some of the load.
On June 1, in an "open letter" (originally written as a speech -- he was on doctors orders not to speak after surgery on his vocal cords), Wilson stated he would immediately dismantle all affirmative action programs under his control.
"Affirmative action is eroding the American ideal," the letter stated.
Anti-affirmative action supporters cheered Wilson's coming-out on the issue. His detractors vowed to see him in court.
Toward the end of June, the fight for individual rights went high-tech with the unveiling of the California Civil Rights Initiative webpage at <http://www.cal-net.com/ccri/>. The World Wide Web site, which includes a few cyber-words of support from the governor himself, promotes the initiative which, if passed by voters, would make giving preferences to minorities and women illegal throughout the state. The initiative will most likely be on the November 1996 ballot.
By early July, Wilson, who is also president of the UC Regents, publicly expressed support for Connerly's proposal to end affirmative action in the UC system. Detractors later reported that Wilson was using his political clout to influence many of the 24 regents who would soon vote on the proposal.
On the morning of July 20 the regents gathered in a Berkeley auditorium to listen to testimony from politicians, business leaders, faculty, students and parents, who spoke both for and against abolishing preferences based on race and gender at the university level.
As protesters angrily demonstrated outside, the regents voted 14 to 10 to end affirmative action, making the UC system the first and only public university system in the U.S. to renounce affirmative action programs.
After the proposal passed, the Reverend Jesse Jackson led protesters in a prayer, and the crowd solemnly sang "We Shall Overcome" as they marched down California Street.
Jackson, at a church gathering in Los Angeles, later called for Wilson's recall from office saying Wilson was "spending too much time on his presidential campaign and not enough on important California issues."
A few days later, White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta told CBS's "Face the Nation" that the Clinton Administration would review their contract relationships with the UC system in light of the UC Regents' decision.
"Hypothetically," Panetta said, "the school could loose federal research money or contracts if it disregards equal opportunity laws."
Wilson called Panetta's statement "pathetic."
In a letter, Wilson said Panetta's comments reflected "an arrogant, gross abuse of power" by the White House.
"We are not going to give in to White House extortion," he continued. "If they actually move from threats to pressure tactics we will fight them in the court and the halls of Congress."
Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization of Women, in turn vowed to fight Wilson on the streets. On July 27 she announced "Operation Wilson Watch," a plan to picket all Wilson appearances.
On the other hand, Wilson did receive some unexpected praise from Aryan Nation leader, Richard Butler.
"Wilson is beginning to wake up to Aryan views," Butler said.
The governor, surprised by the unsolicited comment, said that his actions had been misunderstood by the white supremist.
In the first week of August, Wilson pushed the envelope even further when he filed suit against the state of California -- essentially suing himself.
Claiming them unconstitutional, Wilson challenged five laws passed in the '70s and '80s that require the State Department to set goals for hiring and contracting with minorities and women.
"Such distinctions (in law) stigmatize the very people they purport to assist, create and maintain divisions within our increasingly and richly diverse state, and disserve the taxpayers of this state," he said.
Last monday, the first day of school at UC Berkeley, campus faculty, staff and students again protested the vote which ended affirmative action in student enrollment.
At a noontime rally that attracted nearly 700 people, backers of a proposed constitutional amendment to turn the UC Regents into an elected body (rather than appointed officials) began collecting signatures to get the initiative on the statewide ballot in November 1996.
SF State Affirmative Action Director Joe Torres said he was "distressed" by the UC Regents' vote to end affirmative action. It's politics, he said.
"This (Wilson's suit) is just more of the same," Torres added. "And it's the taxpayer's who will end up paying for the state's defense."
Ed Apodaca, associate vice president of Enrollment Services, said the UC Regents' vote will not affect the California State University system. However, affirmative action could become an issue for the CSU in the future if college enrollment continues to increase while the number and size of campuses do not, he said.
"Eventually," he said, "we (the CSU system) will have to begin making decisions on who we have to exclude."
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