(Golden, CO) In remarks to the Independence Institute today, Linda Chavez discusses the presence of racial, ethnic, and gender preferences in public education, contracting, and employment programs in Colorado. Ms. Chavez is honorary co-chair of the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, which would ban such discrimination and will be voted on this November.
Chavez notes that, in 1997, the Center for Equal Opportunity published a study on “Racial Preferences in Colorado Education,” the subtitle of which was “Racial Preferences in Undergraduate Admissions at the Public Colleges and Universities of Colorado.” That study is on CEO’s website (link: http://www.ceousa.org/content/view/513/100/ ; the executive summary is included with this main release). It found that all public colleges and universities in Colorado use racial preferences in undergraduate admissions: “At the University of Colorado at Boulder, for example, the average white student scored 205 points higher on the SAT (out of a possible 1600), and 4 points higher on the ACT (out of a possible 36), and nearly half a point higher on grades (on a 4-point scale) than the average black student.”
Because of Colorado’s public documents law, it was necessary for CEO to work with the Colorado Commission on Higher Education to obtain the information needed for the study. Chavez said that CEO had hoped to do a similar study this year, and had therefore asked the Commission for its cooperation again. Despite repeated requests, and CEO’s offer to provide both funding and personnel for this work, the Commission this time refused to cooperate.
“This refusal to cooperate suggests that information on the role of race and ethnicity in admissions to Colorado’s public universities is being hidden from the state’s voters in light of the upcoming ballot initiative,” said Ms. Chavez. “Whether or not that is the intent, that is clearly the result.”
In any event, there is no doubt that race and ethnicity continue to play a role in admissions at Colorado public universities. The University of Colorado acknowledged on July 24 that it weighs race and ethnicity in its undergraduate admissions decisions. https://www.cu.edu/content/cu-completes-assessment-potential-impact-colorado-civil-rights-initiative The university’s law school has also acknowledged this in correspondence with CEO.
Nor does the discrimination in Colorado public universities involve only admissions. The University of Colorado has also acknowledged that it has around 100 scholarships that discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, or sex. https://www.cu.edu/content/cu-completes-assessment-potential-impact-colorado-civil-rights-initiative Other campuses besides CU have discriminatory scholarships as well; for instance, CEO found over two dozen of them just at the University of Northern Colorado. http://www.unco.edu/ofa/scholarships/
Chavez also discusses discriminatory programs in Colorado involving public contracting and employment.
The Center for Equal Opportunity is a nonprofit research and educational organization that studies issues related to civil rights, bilingual education, and immigration and assimilation nationwide.
Roger Clegg is the President and General Counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity at the Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO). This article is an excerpt from a CEO press release released on September 17, 2008.
