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[fym22]

In last tuesday's election people in my state (Michigan) overwhelmingly banned racial preferences in college admissions and contracting. (It is universally felt that ban covers AA faculty hires as well.)

[supernumerary]

devistating?

[larryc]

Minor if any impact.  I think a certain subset of white male also-rans in the job market convince themselves that some marginally qualified person of color stole their job.  But in most fields, there just aren't very many people of color, and your chance of ending up in the same finalist pool as one is pretty slim.

The anti-AA stuff is like the anti-gay ballot measures, deigned more to fire up the base than to actually accomplish anything.  Ugly symbolic politics.

[anthroid]

LarryC is spot on.  AA is far less powerful than you subpar white guys would think.  I don't hire you because you stink, not because you're a white guy.  I try not to hire stinky people.  My budget can't take the Glade plug-ins that would be necessary to cover your stench.

(Geez, I'm feeling snarky in this post.  fym22, I hope you can take what you shovel out.)

[takapa]

I'm not sure.  It could be a long term effect, but not likely anything in the short run.  We've used race/ethnicity as an admission criteria here as part of a university mandate.  Being a member of a select group gives an admissions candidate a significant boost in the scoring system we use.  If Virginia were to go the same direction as Michigan, that would then be a no-no.  It would seriously impact our enrollment.  We're a graduate only department, and we have few spots to give to students.  If we went on grades, letters of support, and test scores alone, our minority enrollment would cease, or at least would nearly cease based on the last five and a half years I've been on the admissions committee. We just do not attract enough competitive students based on these traditional academic performance indicators, and we are the number two department in my field.  And this is with significant recruiting effort.  This is a student - and a department specific - example only.  I'm not even sure how other departments here would be impacted.

I've responded to this poll/question as it deserves (IMHO) a discussion by those of us in the higher ed business, and I've tried to be factual and not give anything that is an emotional response.  To anyone who reads this, for the record, I am a white male who is deaf.  To some that makes me part of the majority; to others it makes me part of an underrepresented group.  In reality I guess it is both.

Votes like this do mean something.  That something may be misguided as Larry suggests.  But, I'm at a public U and I've noticed something.  Voters here - and the state gov't - routinely express that they do not think we in the tower listen to them or use their money in ways that they support.  I'm interested in this type of thing for that reason.  I'm not about to appease someone simply for funding dollars, but my salary does come from taxes and I feel inclined to understand these things.

And on a lighter note, Larry notice that I'm using caps in the right places these days!!  And no, my grad assistant is not taking dictation!

[cgfunmathguy]

Overall, the impact will probably be minor, as larryc said. However, I think we will see some select places and situations where there will be a very large impact. These will appear in the courts and on the news.

[sarahanne]

The largest group to benefit from AA are white women not people of color. And, as LarryC said, there aren't enough minorities PhD to steal jobs away from white males. The Michigan measure, if enforced, will impact white female enrollment and job seekers.