Equal Opportunity in Higher Education: The Past and Future of Proposition 209

On October 27, 2006, the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity (Warren Institute) convened a symposium entitled “Equal Opportunity in Higher Education: The Past and Future of Proposition 209” at the Clark Kerr Conference Center on the UC Berkeley campus. Ten years prior to the conference, voters of California passed Proposition 209, amending the state’s constitution to prohibit public institutions from discriminating on the basis of race, sex or ethnicity. Supporters of Prop 209 dubbed the Proposition the “California Civil Rights Initiative,” and called its passage a restoration of the Civil Rights Act. Opponents of Prop 209 contended that the initiative was racially regressive, and would effectively ban most affirmative action programs.

The immediate result of Prop 209 was alarming. The University of California saw an immense drop in underrepresented minority student enrollment, especially at its more prestigious Berkeley, Los Angeles, and San Diego campuses. In particular, UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law was thrust into the media spotlight, enrolling only one black student in the year Prop 209 went into effect. Underrepresented minority enrollment has made some modest gains since the initial enforcement of Prop 209, but student diversity remained below pre-Prop 209 levels ten years later.

In 2005, the Warren Institute began an effort to probe rigorously into the past, present and future consequences of Proposition 209. The goal was to develop a new research base to aid and inform an analysis of how Proposition 209 has affected student and faculty diversity in California higher education. Toward this end, we commissioned about 25 studies from leading scholars and policymakers across the nation, representing a wide variety of disciplines and institutions. These studies can now be found at our Proposition 209 research page.

Sincerely,

Christopher Edley, Jr.
Dean and Professor of Law

July 2006

Note: This event is wheelchair accessible. For disability-related accommodations, please contact Elaine Mui at emui@law.berkeley.edu or by calling 510-642-9919.