Presented to the Meeting of the Education Committee, University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents, on Thursday, June 10, 1999
In addressing these comments to you today, I am privileged to take part in a great University of Wisconsin tradition, “…that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.” You, members of the Board of Regents, must today deal with another great University of Wisconsin tradition, shaping and molding for generations to come-the tradition of equal educational opportunity.
When I was a UW-Madison undergraduate in the late 1940’s, student government attacked discrimination by religion and race in private housing accommodations. The faculty and, in time, the Board of Regents, supported this position. For taking action on housing discrimination, the University of Wisconsin received national recognition. Principles instilled in me by my parents, teachers, and religion-that everyone must be treated equally before the law and with decency and respect-were reinforced by what my university did.
Soon, the restrictive clauses in fraternity and sorority charters were eliminated here and then nationally. UW students, faculty, and Regents led rather than followed.
Not long afterwards, I supported efforts by my students — black and white — in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The ultimate outcome was the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That legislation, banning discrimination by race, represented a great moral triumph for our country.
But, a the very moment that victory was won, colleges and universities began discriminating on the basis of race and ethnicity in admissions, financial aid, and special minority programs. These discriminatory practices-so-called “reverse discrimination”-are now deeply embedded in higher education institutions everywhere, including the University of Wisconsin. Deeply embedded, and concealed.
This discrimination is justified by employers’ desires for diversity in personnel and educational experiences; it is defended as promoting multicultural learning. Whatever the rationale, we have come full circle: discrimination-which people of my generation worked so hard to eliminate- is now regarded by many as part of the American way. But, this is wrong. Discrimination compromises the intellectual integrity of the university and undermines its moral standing.
You, members of the Board of Regents, will decide today whether the University of Wisconsin System continues to practice discrimination in admissions and programs. So far, you are saying “yes” to discrimination; the new policy unanimously approved a year ago, “Plan 2008-Educational Quality Through Race and Ethnic Diversity,” endorses discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity.
A close reading indicates that the practice of discrimination in admissions and programs is nowhere acknowledged in Plan 2008, or in the UW System campus Institutional Plans 2008, which you are reviewing today. Does implementing Plan 2008 require race and ethnic preferences? If it does, please say so.
But, if it does not, the current Board of Regents can take the lead, as your predecessors did almost a half-century ago, by banning discrimination based on race and ethnic background in admissions and programs.
The Board can take such action by simply amending the Education Committee resolution (6/11/99) to read:
“That upon recommendation of the President of the University of Wisconsin System, the Board authorizes implementation of Institutional Plans 2008, effective
July 1, 1999.as soon as evidence is provided that Plan 2008 and the Institutional Plans 2008 are in full compliance with Wisconsin Statutes Ch. 36.12.”
I urge the Board to seize this opportunity to return the University of Wisconsin System to its historic role as an exemplar of equal educational opportunity.
Wisconsin Statutes Ch. 36.12 reads in part:
“No student may be denied admission to, participation in or the benefits of, or be discriminated against in any service, program, course or facility of the system or its institutions or centers because of a student’s race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, disability, ancestry, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, marital status or parental status.”