Voters Approve Referendum Calling for End of Race-Sensitive Admissions at the University of Michigan

By a margin of 58 percent to 42 percent, voters approved a public referendum in the state of Michigan which will ban the use of racial preferences by any agency of the state government. The referendum mandates that the University of Michigan and other state-operated colleges and universities abandon the use of race as a positive factor in the admissions process.

The effort in Michigan was led by Ward Connerly, the African-American businessman from California who led the successful effort in that state to end race-sensitive admissions at the University of California.

Most African Americans hoped that Michigan voters would put an end to the hypocritical political ambitions of this black man whose personal attainments in life are due to the benefits of affirmative action in government contracting. But his victory in Michigan will undoubtedly cause him to take his crusade against race-sensitive admissions to other states.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.