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"Some college administrators seem so distracted with fund raising, academic infighting, and community initiatives that they set up their emergency communications departments very poorly. Training is poor to nonexistent, secretaries are pressed into service with tremendous responsibilities for running 'notification systems' 24/7 and on weekends because no one else knows how to do it and the administration won’t pay for additional staff. Procedures are seat-of-the-pants and dependent on HIPPO (highest paid person’s opinion), except when something like Virginia Tech happens and there is some sort of scramble to do something different." --Donna
Most Colleges Avoid Risk Management, Report Says
New Allegations in Admissions Controversy at U. of Illinois Suggest Ex-Provost Played a Role
Linda P.B. Katehi, the incoming chancellor of the University of California at Davis, has insisted she knew nothing of the admission of politically connected applicants at Illinois.
Sonoma State U. Foundation May Lose $350,000 on Loan to Former Board Member
The foundation will be forced to issue fewer scholarships in the 2010-11 academic year because of a diminished endowment, a university official said.
Court Overturns $2-Million Verdict for Former Coach at U. of Louisiana-Lafayette
The coach, one of the few African-Americans in big-time college football, was fired after three losing seasons. He sued, saying he had been dismissed because of his race.
The notorious vermin have forced Colorado State University at Fort Collins to cancel its annual Great Sofa Roundup, which allows students to donate unwanted couches.
Water-Main Break Damages Library at University in St. Louis
Summer classes at Harris-Stowe State University resumed today, but the library remains closed.
College Suspends Student for Working in Gay Pornography | 58
President Obama's Visit to Notre Dame Carries Barely a Hint of Controversy That Preceded It | 58
Drug Sting Nabs 21 Students at U. of Illinois | 57
Faculty Members and Union Protest Staff Layoffs at Temple U. as 'Cruel' | 57
North Dakota Board's Vote Puts 'Fighting Sioux' Mascot on Thinner Ice | 57
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April 23, 2007
4 States Are New Targets for Bans on Affirmative-Action Preferences
Several prominent critics of affirmative action announced in Denver today that they would seek to place a referendum banning racial, ethnic, and gender preferences on the ballot in Colorado in November 2008. And while the chief group leading the effort — the American Civil Rights Institute — has not yet formally announced its plans for other similar campaigns, it clearly intends to put such measures on the November 2008 ballot in Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma, and one other yet-to-be-determined state as part of what it is calling a “Super Tuesday for Equal Rights.”
The Colorado effort is being overseen at the local level by a new group, called the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative. Its executive director, Valery Pech Orr, was one plaintiff in the lawsuit that led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1995 decision Adarand Constructors v. Pena, which dealt with the use of affirmative action in awarding government contracts. In a written statement issued today, Ms. Orr expressed optimism that the proposed ban on affirmative-action preferences would pass there, just as similar measures were overwhelmingly adopted by voters in California in 1996, Washington State in 1998, and Michigan last fall.
A group calling itself the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative plans to hold a news conference tomorrow in Kansas City, Mo. Similar organizations plan to hold news conferences in Oklahoma on Wednesday and in Arizona on Thursday. The American Civil Rights Institute also hopes to get such a measure on the ballot in either Nebraska or South Dakota, although it has not decided which one.
Ward Connerly, chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, plans to appear at each of this week’s news conferences and is advising the state organizations on their campaigns. In an interview today, he said the Colorado campaign would need about 74,600 valid petition signatures to get the measure on the ballot there, and planned to try to collect at least 120,000. The proposed measure, to be reviewed by state elections officials on Thursday, says: “The state shall not discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”
Mr. Connerly said he expected each of the state campaigns to encounter a distinct set of challenges, but was confident that they would succeed based on the results of last fall’s election in Michigan. There, 58 percent of voters approved a constitutional amendment banning the use of affirmative-action preferences by public colleges and other state and local agencies, even though the measure was strongly opposed by business and religious leaders, organized labor, and civil-rights groups, and had little organized support. “I can’t see anything being tougher than it was in Michigan,” Mr. Connerly said. —Peter Schmidt
Posted on Monday April 23, 2007 | Permalink |Comments
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There isnt equality inthis country . Unless programs simulate minorities into society there will be unrest. ASK FRANCE . THIS IS ABAD IDEA.
— Jacqueline Grant Apr 24, 01:55 PM #
Given an opportunity there is not a state in the country that would not squash affirmitive action.Affirmative action is a Facist concept promoted by do-gooders and race hustlers.
— Saladin Jones Apr 24, 07:59 PM #