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News Digest

A Collection of good quotes from News or Opinion Articles.

Proposition 16 perpetuates ethnic and gender divisions under the guise of diversity and fairness.

“I am a lifelong Democrat and before retirement, I had taught modern African history at California State University Chico for 40 years. I believe Proposition 16, on California’s November ballot, perpetuates ethnic and gender divisions under the guise of diversity and fairness. I urge my fellow Californians — of all political persuasions — to reject it.” (PROPOSITION 16: BACKWARD ATTITUDE DOESN’T BELONG IN OUR STATE, Bakersfield.com, Oct. 6, 2020, by 40-year CSU African History Professor Charles Geshekter)

Public university officials maintain — falsely — admissions of underrepresented minorities have declined

Public university officials maintain — falsely — that since Proposition 209 was enacted, admissions and graduation numbers of underrepresented “minorities” (which still include Latinos, who have constituted the state’s largest racial group since 2014) have declined.

In reality, the number of Black and Hispanic students at the University of California and CSU rose significantly between 2000 and 2018. The elimination of racial preferences in admissions drew underrepresented minority students away, only from the two most competitive campuses (Berkeley and UCLA) and into other campuses of the UC system. (PROPOSITION 16: BACKWARD ATTITUDE DOESN’T BELONG IN OUR STATE, Bakersfield.com, Oct. 6, 2020, by 40-year CSU African History Professor Charles Geshekter)

PROPOSITION 16: BACKWARD ATTITUDE DOESN’T BELONG IN OUR STATE

California education under Proposition 209 has been a success story. Ours is a state of enterprise and equality among all colors and creeds. Until the Prop 16 promoters can accept this, they will remain stubbornly unable to join the celebration of success, or to offer realistic reforms to address existing flaws.

This backward-looking attitude has no place in our state, nor should it have a place in our state’s constitution. I urge my fellow Californians of all backgrounds and political persuasions to join me in voting No on Proposition 16. PROPOSITION 16: BACKWARD ATTITUDE DOESN’T BELONG IN OUR STATE, Bakersfield.com, Oct. 6, 2020, by 40-year CSU African History Professor Charles Geshekter)

CALIFORNIA’S PROP 16 WOULD ALLOW DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN

Reports of discrimination against women in college admissions have been widespread since at least 2006, when Kenyon College Dean of Admissions Jennifer Delahunty Britz wrote in the New York Times, “The reality is that because young men are rarer, they’re more valued applicants. … The standards for admission to today’s most selective colleges are stiffer for women than men.” A year later, Henry Broaddus, dean of admissions at the College of William & Mary, acknowledged that his institution gives preference to men:…

UCLA is already 58 percent female and 42 percent male. Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Fresno are both 63 percent female and 37 percent male. Most other selective California public colleges and universities also are over 50 percent female, albeit by smaller margins. Will at least some of these schools be tempted toward discrimination to obtain more even gender balance? They would be freer to act on that temptation if Prop 16 passes. Why encourage them? (CALIFORNIA’S PROP 16 WOULD ALLOW DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN, The Hill, Oct. 5, 2020)

Affirmative action is counterproductive, if not immoral. These policies breed cynicism, corruption, mediocrity; they will sow hatred and resentment

Lest anyone be tempted to suggest this analysis is written under a pretense of journalistic indifference, let’s make its ideological position clear: Affirmative action, preferential hiring or admissions, or legislatively enforced quotas of any kind – based on race, gender, religion, income, or anything else relating to an identifiable “group” – is counterproductive, if not immoral. Affirmative action may masquerade as something good, but it’s not.
If policies designed to destroy America’s meritocracy are not stopped, they will destroy everything that makes America great. They will breed cynicism, corruption, mediocrity; they will sow hatred and resentment; they will encourage indifference to results and discourage hard work; they will misdirect America’s institutional priorities from productivity and innovation to bureaucratic “process” and ideological indoctrination; they will consign America to 2nd class status and ultimately rob it of both prosperity and civil cohesion. (Prop. 16 is Real Racism to Combat Perceived Racism, California Policy Ceter, Aug. 26, 2020)