A change.org petition written by “Concerned Californians” is fewer than 10,000 signatures away from heading to the State Assembly in efforts to keep affirmative action out of public education.
The petition, which aims to gather 100,000 signatures, urges State Assembly members to vote against State Constitution Amendment 5. The proposed amendment would revise portions of Proposition 209, which outlawed affirmative action or “preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin” in California university admissions, according to its text.
SCA 5, authored by Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, is awaiting a vote in the State Assembly after passing in the Senate in January.
If passed, SCA 5 will be placed on the November ballot.
Hernandez said he introduced SCA 5 because Prop. 209 has not been effective.
“As far as California’s students are concerned, Prop. 209 has been a complete failure,” Hernandez said on his website. “We have more than 15 years of history showing our campuses have become less diverse, and qualified high school graduates are being overlooked and ignored as a result of this unsuccessful experiment.”
The petition on change.org argues that SCA 5 will have the opposite effect of what Hernandez claims.
“In the 18 years that Prop. 209 has been in effect, California has become the most diversified state in the US,” the petition reads.
Cal State University Spokesman Mike Uhlenkamp said that although the CSU does not have a stance on the bill, SCA 5 is unlikely to affect the CSU system if it does pass.
“The way our mission of access works and the way we enroll, [SCA 5] will not necessarily change the way we admit students,” Uhlenkamp said. “Prop. 209 has not necessarily affected the enrollment of CSU students, and the reason for that is our admission of access mirrors the demographic of California.”
In fall 1996, prior to Prop. 209’s passage, the CSU system consisted of 49.2 percent white students, 7.5 percent black students and 15.5 percent for each Asian and Latino students, according to the CSU website.
By fall 2013, the Latino population increased significantly to 25.5 percent of the CSU’s population, while whites, Asians and blacks dropped to 29.1 percent, 15.3 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively, according to the website.
The CSU has several initiatives, such as the Journey to Success Program, to also reach out to Asian American and Pacific Islanders, CSU Spokeswoman Stephanie Thara said.
Hernandez said that he believes SCA 5 will help increase diversity in California higher education.
“This is about the long-term benefits college degrees bring to students and their families,” Hernandez said. “It’s about graduating the well-trained, diverse workforce we need to compete in a global economy, and most importantly, it’s about equal opportunity for California’s young people.”
The petition, however, argues that SCA 5 will bring racism back into the process of school admissions.
“This will unfairly roll back the clock to discriminate a student simply based on [someone’s] race,” the petition reads. “The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution clearly states that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of its laws. The SCA 5 is racist and in violation of the US Constitution.”
Sophomore pre-psychology major Jesus Partida said he thinks that different minorities have different opportunities.
“Depending on how hard they work to get that opportunity, I feel like that affirmative action just makes it more available for that person who’s struggling to compete with all the other, Latinos such as myself,” he said.
Junior business management major Dwight Selma, however, said that there are two sides to the issue.
“It’s a good thing for the minority groups [but] a bad thing for the overall fairness and integrity of the campus,” Selma said.
The petition had 91,839 signatures as of Wednesday night. It can be accessed on www.change.org.
Assistant News Editor Crystal Niebla contributed to this story.
