Trustees to weigh Prop. 54 this week

By Rory Sa

This week the CSU system will decide whether to throw its collective weight against Proposition 54, the Racial Privacy Initiative.

According to a statement issued by the CSU Chancellor’s public affairs office, Proposition 54 will interfere with the system’s ability to evaluate outreach and recruitment efforts, as well as limit analysis on admission policies and how they affect students. The statement also said the proposition may prevent the CSU from conducting research and internal CSU studies.

“ The collective effect could seriously impede CSU’s ability to both demonstrate commitment to diversity and to ensure that its educational programs and practices do not have a disparate impact on any particular racial or ethnic group.”

Proposition 54 will add an amendment to California’s state constitution prohibiting state and local governments from using or collecting information on race, ethnicity or nationality.

According to the summary submitted to the State Attorney General’s office, this will apply to classifying “current or prospective students, contractors or employees in public education, contracting, or employment operations.”

Exceptions to this rule include information on medical patients and for medical research, maintaining requirements for the Federal Government and suspect descriptions for police.

The proposition, which was originally scheduled to appear on the March 2004 primary ballot, will appear on the Oct. 7 recall ballot. If passed, the initiative will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2005.

Proponents say the passage of Proposition 54 will, according to the mission statement at the official RPI Web site, “signal America’s first step towards a color-blind society.”

Opponents, in a rebuttal inside the official voter information guide said.

“ Race-based data is vital not only in determining and tracking diseases that disproportionately affect various ethnic groups — including whites — but also in uncovering racism, ranging from racial profiling to environmental inequities.”

Support for Proposition 54 is spearheaded by University of California regent Ward Connerly, the controversial founder and Chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute. Connerly was also a major supporter of 1996’s Proposition 209, which prohibited discrimination and preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or nationality in public employment, public education or public contracting.

Recall Lt. Gov Cruz Bustamante and Arnold Schwarzenegger have both declared their opposition to the initiative.