AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: DEAD OR ALIVE?
Justice and Journalism Forum to Explore the Future of Civil Rights and Equity in America

LOS ANGELES (January 11, 2007) – who has led anti-affirmative action initiatives in three states, will join journalist Ellis Cose and panelists Tuesday afternoon at a forum exploring the status and future of affirmative action in the United States.

The forum – “Affirmative Action: Dead or Alive?” – will be held at USC’s Davidson Conference Center from 2:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. The discussion, open to the public, is sponsored by USC Annenberg’s Institute for Justice and Journalism.

Also appearing at the forum will be Jennifer Gratz, who was a plaintiff in the U.S. Supreme Court case Gratz v. Bollinger; Andrea Guerrero, an attorney, author and advocate for affirmative action; and Darnell Hunt, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA.

The event will be moderated by Cose, a Newsweek columnist who authored a special report published by the Institute for Justice and Journalism entitled “Killing Affirmative Action: Would ending it really result in a better, more perfect Union?”

Separately, Connerly, chairman of the American Civil Rights Initiative, will speak about his goal of ending racial preferences at 6 p.m. at the Davidson Conference Center.

In 1996, Connerly directed California’s Proposition 209 campaign, which won voter approval barring race or gender as criteria in state employment, university admissions and public contracting. A similar initiative was passed in Washington state in 1998. Last November, Connerly and Gratz were the most visible advocates in passage of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, which also resembles Proposition 209.

Hunt told the Los Angeles Times last year that Connerly “has set us back 30 years in terms of public education." At UCLA, Hunt pointed out, the number of African American freshmen has fallen to about 100 students.

Guerrero has recounted her experiences as a beneficiary of affirmative action in her book,  “Silence at Boalt Hall: The Dismantling of Affirmative Action.”

Cose’s study found that in the wake of Proposition 209, many minority- and women-owned companies doing business with the state have faced stiff competition from larger competitors and have been forced to close. Minority admission to public universities has also dropped, with figures at top-tier schools, UCLA and UC Berkeley, still below pre-209 levels.

At the same time, Cose wrote, the initiative’s promised benefits have failed to materialize: Economic diversity at state institutions has not improved, and many minorities still feel the stigma of affirmative action.

With Connerly planning to take his movement to new states, the forum will discuss each panelist’s view of the future for affirmative action, civil right and equity in America.
 
The forum is the featured program of the 2007 Racial Justice Fellowships conference, conducted by USC Annenberg’s Institute for Justice and Journalism.

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