MediaWatch: January 1998
Table of Contents:
Racial Realities
During last year’s racial preferences debate many in the media feared a return to the days of de facto segregation. On June 8, Meet the Press Tim Russert declared: "California and the state of Texas ended affirmative action for college and law school applications. This year, at California Berkeley, California UCLA law schools, the number of black students in the fall class is down 80 percent, number of Hispanics, 50 percent. The University of Texas....This fall, zero blacks enrolled. That is the result of the affirmative action policies in California and Texas."
But a December 5 U.S. News & World Report article detailed what really happened in those states. Julian Barnes noted the results of a U.S. News survey: "Most Texas and California public universities that ended affirmative action have seen black and Hispanic enrollments hold steady, or actually increase. The University of Texas-Austin enrolled 163 black freshmen this fall, one more than the year before, and 807 Hispanics, 35 more than the year before. The University of Texas-Dallas registered 29 black freshmen, four more than last year, and new Hispanic enrollment stayed steady at 38. At the University of California medical schools, new black and Hispanic enrollments remained roughly the same. Black enrollment in the system’s graduate academic programs increased slightly."
Barnes cited a reemphasis of non-race-based standards as the reason for steady minority enrollment by "giving more importance to applicants’ leadership skills and community work." Barnes went on to quote Proposition 209 opponent Ward Connerly as saying it was "absurd" for schools to rely on grades and test scores alone. In the article Connerly boiled the issue down to one of individual merit and not skin color. "You owe it to these kids to give them an individual review."
