Sacramento - In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling upholding the ban on Affirmative Action in Michigan, the CLBC calls for solutions that would reflect the true “diversity” of California on the UC and CSU campuses.
On Tuesday, April 22, 2014 the Supreme Court upheld Michigan State’s ban on affirmative action, citing that a different system would have been acceptable. “Diversity,” the court said, “constitutes a compelling state interest that “justifies” considering race.” The members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) consider California to have a compelling interest, given that 60.6% of the state’s population is minority. (Source: US Census 2012).
CLBC Chair and state Senator Holly J. Mitchell said, “State funded universities and colleges should reflect the demographics of the state and if they don’t, then there is something wrong with their admission system.”
Pre Proposition 209, showed more African Americans admitted to the UC and CSU system, especially UCLA and UC Berkeley. Now less than 4% of the admission rates are African Americans on both these campuses.
CLBC members will continue to work collaboratively to eradicate this discrepancy and find a solution that would reflect the true “diversity” of California on the UC and CSU campuses.