San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, May 16, 2003
Kelly St. John, Chronicle Staff Writer

The 15-3 vote to take a stand against the measure was an unusual move for UC, which has taken a position on just nine ballot measures in 25 years. It was also a rebuke of Connerly, who eight years ago successfully led an effort to get UC to stop considering race in its admissions practices and later helped win a statewide affirmative action ban.

UC President Richard Atkinson asked the board to go on record against the March ballot measure -- dubbed the Racial Privacy Initiative -- out of fear that it might impede basic research and limit the university's ability to gauge the effectiveness of its admissions and outreach efforts.

Those arguments resonated with the majority, including Regent Tom Sayles.

"We still value diversity," he said. "But if we don't know who our students are, how will we know how we are doing?"

The initiative, widely viewed as an extension of Proposition 209, which banned the use of racial preferences in California hiring and university admissions in 1996, would forbid state and local governments from classifying students, contractors or employees by race, ethnicity, color or national origin.

It would exempt data collected for medical research, descriptions of prisoners or crime suspects, or cases where the federal government requires that agencies report racial data.

The vote followed a two-hour spirited debate which pitted Connerly against several top Democrats who rarely attend regents meetings, including Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson and state education Superintendent Jack O'Connell.

Connerly -- who made a point of describing himself as part white, part American Indian, and part black -- noted that 8.4 percent of UC applicants already decline to state their race or ethnicity on university forms.

"Racial categorization is a cruel reality to a growing number of individuals who 'decline to state,' who don't want to have to choose between mom and dad for their identity," he said.

"Despite the best of intentions, the academic gap between whites and Asians versus blacks and Hispanics continues to widen," he said. "By focusing too much on race, we instill in students the notion that 'underrepresented minorities' can't help but under-achieve. Maybe it's time to stop tracking racial data and just start teaching."

Bustamante countered by calling the initiative an "information ban" that "will hurt people and create tragedy in California."

"Doctors and medical researchers might as well be wearing blindfolds" if certain racial data cannot be gathered, he said. "People with my heritage are more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes. HIV kills African Americans 18 times more than other Californians . . . White women have the highest rates of breast cancer. Diseases do not attack all segments of our population equally."

One regent, George Marcus, initially said he was "baffled" about why Atkinson had brought the matter before the board, and tried unsuccessfully to postpone the vote indefinitely.

O'Connell countered, "This isn't a time where the UC regents can play ostrich."

In the end, just Regents Connerly, John Davies and Peter Preuss voted against the resolution, while John Moores abstained.

"We'll win at the ballot box next March," Connerly said after the vote. "This was just a speed bump."

But the symbolic vote pleased many who filled the audience, including students who hissed at Connerly and snapped their fingers in appreciation of others.

UC Berkeley student Mo Kashmiri said he fears passage of the initiative will make it harder to track the progress of the university's efforts to diversify its student body.

"As one student of color told me, they already removed our bodies from campus. Now they want to remove the evidence," he said.

E-mail Kelly St. John at kstjohn@sfchronicle.com.

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