Affirmative Action Ban and Diversity: Discussing University of California's Policy Responses to Proposition 209

• In Event: Social Science Analyses of Emerging Legal Dilemmas

Abstract

Proposition 209 is a California ballot proposition approved in 1996 that prohibits “preferential treatment” based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in public institutions. The University of California (UC), which had long relied on direct affirmative action practices to increase its proportion of underrepresented students, is directly affected by this ban. In this paper, we discuss the policy responses of UC to continue to achieve its so-called “diversity objective” in the student body. Looking at each of the three stages of selection procedure (application, admission and enrollment), we show that the indirect affirmative action alternatives implemented by UC are costly and hardly efficient, especially at top-ranked campuses, thus operating a “resegregation” of students between campuses.

Author

• Léon Marbach, Stanford University
  Presenting Author