California Scholars Fighting for Prop. 209

Ashley Thorne

Proposition 209, the law prohibiting racial preferences at public universities in California, is under attack.

Last week the California Association of Scholars (CAS), an affiliate of NAS, filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit against Prop. 209 by an organization that, as NAS president Peter Wood said, "has deployed questionable tactics against civil rights initiatives in every state where they have been proposed." CAS, along with Ward Connerly and the American Civil Rights Foundation, will be represented by attorneys with the Pacific Legal Foundation.

There is also a bill called AB2047, which would effectively overturn Prop. 209 and is now in the hands of the California Senate. CAS president John Ellis has sent a letter to the Senate chair, Gloria Romero, urging her and her colleagues to vote down this law.

Links

Press Release on CAS and BAMN lawsuit

CAS Letter to State Senate

Chronicle of Higher Ed

Pacific Legal Foundation Press Release

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