Panel discusses affirmative action
April 18, 2008
By Any Means Necessary Coalition member Antonio Williams distributes information about the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative outside Plaza 900 before the march begins. BAMN is a youth-led organization that has been active in promoting a new civil rights movement across the country.
Panelists agreed on only one subject at Wednesday’s Missouri Civil Rights Initiative debate: Voters should read the proposed ballot initiative before deciding where they stand on the issue.
The Missing Minority Campaign sponsored the debate at the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center, which featured four panelists and attracted more than 50 people to listen to a discussion about the proposed amendment to the Missouri constitution that would end most race- and gender-based affirmative action programs in the state.
Jeffrey Williams, director of access and urban outreach for the MU Division of Enrollment Management, said he opposes the proposed amendment and found it “ironic” that the amendment would eliminate affirmative action when other “forms of preference exist in our society.”
Independent political consultant Brian Johnson participated in the debate and said he is in favor of the initiative; he said he sees the issue as a “moral” one.
“It would prevent the state government from using race and gender to discriminate,” he said. “It doesn’t aim to move us back, it aims to move society forward.”
Interim MU Chief Diversity Officer Roger Worthington said by reading the language of the ballot carefully, voters would see that the initiative “doesn’t ban discrimination, it bans affirmative action.”
“Affirmative action is about a focus on inclusive excellence,” he said. “Don’t let anyone tell you it’s about allowing unqualified individuals into institutions. It’s about gaining access and people who enter are qualified based on standards of excellence.”
Worthington said affirmative action programs, including scholarships for minority students, increase diversity on college campuses and “provide a greater experience for all students.”
He said having more diversity on college campuses helps students become better prepared to compete in the increasingly global workforce, and eliminating affirmative action programs would impede that learning potential.
Much of the debate focused on rhetoric and the differences between the terms “civil rights,” “affirmative action” and “race and gender preference.” MoCRI Executive Director Tim Asher said civil rights are a “nonpolitical right” and the proposed amendment would not obstruct anyone’s civil rights.
“I support affirmative action, I don’t support race preferences,” he said. “If something is being done to systematically keep people out, it needs to be investigated.”
According to the proposed amendment, programs providing preferential treatment based on race and gender would be illegal, but affirmative action programs relating to socio-economic status would still be allowed.
Williams said MoCRI supporters “mischaracterized” what affirmative action actually does by implying unqualified people are benefiting from programs.
He said he is a product of affirmative action; he grew up in public housing and benefited from public aid.
“I don’t see anything good to come (from this initiative),” he said. “My own trajectory would become less likely because people wouldn’t have the same advantages as I did.”
After the debate, Johnson, who graduated from MU and is the former president of MU’s College Republicans chapter, said he admires students who “notice an issue and care enough to get involved.”
“I hope they investigate the literature and not just listen to one side of the debate,” he said.
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