Washington Ban Faces Reversal

By PETER SCHMIDT

Gov. Gary Locke of Washington plans to ask state lawmakers to negate a ban on race-conscious public-college admissions policies adopted by that state's voters in 1998.

Last week Governor Locke, a Democrat, announced that one of his top legislative priorities this year would be a bill to let public colleges return to having race-conscious admissions policies, provided they meet criteria specified by the U.S. Supreme Court in two key decisions handed down last summer.

The bill