There are many flawed assumptions about affirmative action
programs. Unfortunately, these assumptions have led to critiques
lacking substance.

The classic example is the assumption that affirmative action
discriminates against our white brothers and sisters. The argument
goes, “How about that poor white student who is discriminated
against due to the sympathy that we feel for the “˜less
qualified’ student of color?” In essence, arguments
based on the latter point contain two fundamentally flawed
assumptions. Firstly, it assumes that we live in a society with a
level playing field for all students ““ regardless of race,
class, gender, or sexual orientation ““ and that white
privilege is nothing more than a myth.

Many of our white brothers and sisters are among the harshest
critics of affirmative action programs. Some say diversity is
important but race should not be used to achieve it. The reality is
that, to achieve diversity on campuses like UCLA, race must be
taken into account. Affirmative action is beneficial to society as
a whole. Diversity established through affirmative action programs
““ like that at the University of Michigan ““ serve state
interests.

One need look no further than the statistics of the admitted
classes to UCLA in 1995 and 2002. The admitted class of 1995 is
significant because it represents the year SP-1 and SP-2 were
passed, banning affirmative action. The charts on the right speak
louder than any words in this viewpoint.

As we can see, the impact of the affirmative action ban in
California has been grave, and it affects every student on this
campus. UCLA, like Berkeley, is re-segregating. Throughout the last
eight years, the black, Latino and American Indian populations in
the K-12 public school system have all increased in the state of
California. Yet, when we compare the admittance rates to UCLA pre-
and post- affirmative action years, we see that while their overall
state populations have increased, their presence in the UC schools
has decreased.

Conversely, we see that while the white K-12 student population
has decreased, its numbers in the UCs has increased. Students of
color continue to be underrepresented while whites continue to be
overrepresented. Shouldn’t public institutions reflect the entire
public’s demographics? Has Proposition 209 ““ the
initiative that banned affirmative action in California ““
implemented a system of taxation without representation?

Many people, including President Bush, point to California as
the prime example of achieving diversity in higher education
institutions even when affirmative action is banned. But
California’s system of higher education is not diverse; it is
segregated along racial lines.

In 1954, the Supreme Court made the monumental Brown v. Board of
Education decision, effectively overturning the previous Plessy v.
Ferguson decision, which stated that “separate but
equal” facilities were constitutional. The Brown decision
said separate was inherently unequal and therefore
unconstitutional. The court’s decision led to the
desegregation of schools throughout the nation, though the process
was neither carried out immediately nor without a fight from devout
segregationists. Nearly 50 years later, however, the Civil Rights
Project at Harvard released a report showing our schools continue
to be segregated ““ some more so than in pre-Brown days. The
current legal resegregation of our schools is an injustice we
cannot and must not allow.

Furthermore, if affirmative action was legitimate in 1978
““ the year the monumental Regents of the University of
California v. Bakke case was decided ““ why is it not
justifiable today, when “black and Latino” students are
more isolated from their white counterparts than they were three
decades ago?

Recently, Gov. Gray Davis proposed a 50 percent budget cut for
UC outreach programs. Now we are cutting the budget of those
programs that ““ in the absence of affirmative action ““
were supposed to address the issue of underrepresentation.

Wake up and fight for this country’s future. Let’s
not step backward 50 years. Let’s come to grips with the race
problem that plagues the United States and support affirmative
action programs like the one in Michigan. Creating a diverse
student body, preventing the resegregation of higher education, and
providing equal opportunities using clearly constitutional
programs, are without a doubt, important to the state’s
interests.

Salazar and Lopez are both third-year political science
students.