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Connerly
retiring as UC regent -- leaves controversial legacy
By
Tanya Schevitz, Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Even
at his final meeting as a University of California regent, Ward
Connerly can't resist taking another punch at racial preferences.
Connerly,
who became one of the best-known regents of the past few decades
thanks to his successful campaigns against race-based admissions
in California and elsewhere, has invited a controversial researcher
to today's meeting to discuss a recent study concluding that such
practices in law schools may have negative effects on minorities
in the long run.
"I
wanted to do this to reinforce to the regents that race preferences
are damaging to the intended beneficiaries," said Connerly,
who this week is attending his last meeting as a regent before
his 12-year term expires March 1.
Connerly
arrived quietly on the board in 1993, but it wasn't long before
he became one of the most vilified and controversial figures in
higher education, sparking massive protests and changing the national
debate on race and affirmative action. His efforts ultimately
ended the use of racial preferences at UC and throughout all California
state agencies and earned him the unending loathing of affirmative-action
advocates.
In
1995, Connerly led the Board of Regents in a 14-10 vote to end
the use of race and ethnicity in admissions and went on to successfully
campaign for Proposition 209, a statewide initiative banning preferences
by all state agencies in admissions and hiring.
Proposition
209 propelled him to national prominence.
Few
friends or enemies would dispute that he has been influential.
"His
leadership has been remarkably effective with truly national impact,
" said Christopher Edley, dean of UC Berkeley's law school
and a member of the bipartisan U.S. Civil Rights Commission. "There
are tens of thousands of individuals and hundreds of institutions
nationwide who have been affected, who have been influenced by
him."
In
1998, Connerly and his American Civil Rights Institute won another
big victory, this time in the state of Washington, with the passage
of an initiative patterned after Prop. 209. He is leading similar
efforts in Michigan.
Critics,
such as Eva Paterson of the Equal Justice Society, say he is helping
to resegregate higher education.
"He
has been very dangerous, and history will not look kindly upon
what he did," Paterson said.
Despite
his unpopularity among students who support racial preferences,
Connerly has been one of students' strongest allies on the board
in resisting dramatically rising fees and voted against repeated
double-digit increases.
"He
has been a strong voice for affordable and accessible education,
and for that we are very grateful," said Jennifer Lilla,
president of the University of California Student Association
and a graduate student at UCSF.
Connerly
is a Sacramento land-use planning consultant who was appointed
to the Board of Regents by then-Gov. Pete Wilson after serving
on the governor's California Council of Competitiveness.
At
times, he has surprised friends and critics alike.
In
1997, he went against many of his traditional Republican allies,
including Wilson, in voting to grant health benefits for domestic
partners of UC employees.
He
considers that vote one of his most important actions as a regent.
"This
is just fundamental fairness,'' he said. "We won't let them
marry, and then we won't give them benefits because they aren't
married. It doesn't make sense. It made me feel good about my
own sense of character and willingness to go against the grain."
And
in May 2001, Connerly joined his colleagues on the board in a
unanimous vote to rescind the regents' 1995 ban on affirmative
action that he had sponsored. Connerly said it was largely a symbolic
vote, an attempt to move the school past the divisive debate,
given that Proposition 209, which superceded the 1995 ban, achieved
what he wanted.
Connerly
was born in Louisiana of Irish, African American and Choctaw Indian
ancestry. At age 4, he moved to Sacramento, where he was raised
by an aunt and grandmother after his parents split up and his
mother died. His dark skin and what he calls the persistent "one-drop
rule" have identified him as black. He believes no one should
be judged based on race or background.
"I'm
not fighting the concept of making sure you are not discriminating
against people,'' he said the other day. "I'm fighting treating
people differently on the basis of their race, their skin color,
their ethnic and national origin.
"More
people as they have looked at the issue realize that I'm not trying
to close the doors on young blacks and Latinos. I want them to
stand on their own feet, to be competitive on their own."
He
got involved in the issue when, as chair of the regents' finance
committee, he was asked to meet with a couple that complained
their son was turned down by all of UC's medical schools despite
having top grades and test scores. They believed he was rejected
in favor of less-qualified minority students.
Although
some suspect that Wilson put Connerly on the board with the agenda
of dismantling racial preferences in admissions, Connerly denied
it. He said it was the data he turned up investigating the medical
student's complaint that got him interested. It was clear to him,
he said, that race was the deciding factor and that the university
was going beyond what the law allowed and was inviting a lawsuit.
"I
should have known that any time you address race, you open up
Pandora's box. Affirmative action was one of those sacred things
that nobody was willing to challenge," Connerly said.
He
felt his concerns were being ignored by the university administration
and decided to force the issue by bringing a proposal to end racial
preferences to the regents for the now-historic July 20, 1995,
vote. During the 12-hour meeting, the Rev. Jesse Jackson led the
crowd in singing "We Shall Overcome," and there was
a bomb threat. The regents reconvened in another room with tight
security to vote in closed session.
Connerly
attended American River College in Sacramento and graduated with
a degree in political theory from Sacramento State. He did it,
he said, without the help of affirmative action.
Those
who know him personally but do not agree with him on the race
issue say that he truly believes he is pushing for equality for
all.
Regent
Judith Hopkinson said Connerly has been an exemplary member of
the board, doing his homework and attending meetings, and that
he has laudatory goals. But he is ahead of his time, she said.
"I
don't think we are in a society where we are treating people equal
in many ways, and those inequities do not allow some people to
become students at places like UC," Hopkinson said. "We
need to find other ways to overcome that inequity. He is ahead
of his time. Maybe in 20 or 30 years."
Connerly
said that after his term on the board, he will have more time
for his land-use management planning firm, Connerly and Associates,
where his wife also works. The couple has two grown children and
several grandchildren.
Even
without his position as university regent, Connerly plans to stay
involved in the politics of race. He expects the anti-preferences
initiative in Michigan to get on the ballot in November 2006.
And he still hopes to push the issue of blurring the color lines
with a multiracial classification.
"It
is an idea whose time has come," he said. "I'm not ready
to go fishing and go to Kings ballgames every week."
Chronology
Highlights
of Ward Connerly's tenure on UC Board of Regents:
March
2, 1993 -- Connerly appointed to the board.
July
20, 1995 -- Regents vote 14-10 to approve Connerly's proposals
to ban preferences in admissions and hiring at the university.
Nov.
7, 1996 -- California voters approve Connerly-backed Proposition
209 to ban preferences in admissions and hiring at state agencies.
Nov.
3, 1998 -- Washington state voters approve an initiative proposed
by Connerly that bans preferences in admissions and hiring at
state agencies.
Nov.
21, 1997 -- Connerly breaks with conservative allies, including
Gov. Pete Wilson, to join the majority in a 13-12 regents vote
to provide health benefits to domestic partners of UC employees.
July
8, 2003 -- Connerly launches initiative process in Michigan to
ban racial preferences in admissions and hiring.
Nov.
7, 2003 -- California voters reject Connerly's state proposition
to ban most state agencies from collecting racial and ethnic data.
Nov.
17, 2004 -- A regents' committee voting 12-1 defeats Connerly's
proposal for the university to add a multiracial checkbox on application
forms.
Jan.
6, 2005 -- Michigan initiative campaign submits signatures to
the secretary of state to have measure put on the November 2006
ballot.
March
1, 2005 -- Connerly's term expires.
E-mail
Tanya Schevitz at tschevitz@sfchronicle.com.
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