Bad Guidance on Racial Preferences

Roger CleggRacial Preferences

As the K–12 school year draws to a close, school boards and superintendents will have to decide about tweaking student assignments for the fall. As they do so, they will also have to decide how much weight to give to the Obama administration’s “Guidance on the Voluntary Use of Race to Achieve Diversity and Avoid Racial Isolation in Elementary and Secondary Schools,” which was released jointly late last year by the Education and Justice Departments.  The guidance encourages schools to consider students’ race and ethnicity in deciding who goes to which school. Related posts: Disparate Impact Delenda Est Good News: …

E pluribus unum, now more than ever

Roger CleggUncategorized

“Minority Babies Are Now Majority in United States,” read the headline in the Washington Post a couple of weeks ago. And one thing that an increasingly multiracial and multiethnic United States cannot have is a system in which its institutions treat people differently according to skin color and what country someone’s ancestors came from—where, for example, public universities, government employers, and public contracting officials give preferential treatment to some and discriminate against others on the basis of race and ethnicity. Such division was never a good idea and is now simply untenable. E pluribus unum—now more than ever. Related posts: 50th …

Pepsi and Political Correctness

Roger CleggUncategorized

Last week, I noted that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued new “Enforcement Guidance” designed to make it much riskier for employers to consider arrest and conviction records in hiring decisions, on the grounds that such considerations can have a “disparate impact” on the basis of race.  But later last week, with some help from the Center for Equal Opportunity, the House of Representatives passed by voice vote an appropriations amendment that will forbid the EEOC from using any of its funds “to implement, administer, or enforce” this guidance. Kudos to Representative Ben Quayle (R., Ariz.), who introduced …

Proof of Color, Please?

Roger CleggUncategorized

Our friend Jennifer Gratz—of Gratz v. Bollinger, the Supreme Court case that struck down racially preferential undergrad admissions at the University of Michigan in 2003—passed along to usthis interesting news story from Detroit.  It’s about one Jerome Morgan, who is being asked by the city to prove he is black and, therefore, truly eligible for a contract preference that allegedly the mayor would rather give to someone else for political reasons. Related posts: TESTIMONY OF ROGER CLEGG, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL, CENTER FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY BEFORE THE U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS REGARDING THE PROPOSED EMPLOYMENT NON-DISCRIMINATION ACT Politicized external …

For once, the New York Times is right!

Roger CleggRacial Preferences

Earlier this year, the New York Times ran an editorial titled, “The Affirmative Action War Goes On.”  Well, for once it’s right:  That war does continue. Related posts: Update on the Struggle against Universities’ Affirmative Discrimination Fisher v. University of Texas Wrap-Up – Whew! Good Briefs in the Harvard Case BAMN! The Center for Equal Opportunity Zaps Racial Preferences

Discriminating Eye

Roger CleggRacial Preferences

There was a dubious Associated Press story over the weekend about how California public universities are having to struggle to achieve “diversity”—defined as a student body that reflects the general population of the state—since Proposition 209 banned racial preferences in admissions there in 1996.  (Center for Equal Opportunity studies documenting discrimination there helped pass that initiative, btw.) Related posts: Diversity Myths The Mismatch Game Fisher v. University of Texas Wrap-Up – Whew! Did Juan Williams libel LU’s Hans Bader?

Politically Correct Bean-Counters Everywhere

Roger CleggUncategorized

Despite the overwhelming consensus among Americans that it is wrong to discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, and sex, we see it all the time—in the name of political correctness. And we see it in the government at all levels and in the private sector. Here are just a few examples from recent news stories. Related posts: California Keeps Its Ban on Racial Preferences TESTIMONY OF ROGER CLEGG, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL, CENTER FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY BEFORE THE U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS REGARDING THE PROPOSED EMPLOYMENT NON-DISCRIMINATION ACT Politicized external review panels as unguided “diversity” missiles: California university …

Voting Rights – and E Pluribus Unum

Roger CleggVoting Rights

This little essay is about voting rights, but let’s start with a “National Population” chart from the 2010 Census website. The chart shows that America is more and more a multiracial and multiethnic country. Over one in four Americans now say they are something other than simply “white.” Blacks are no longer the largest minority group; Latinos are. Related posts: Felon Voting and Congress TESTIMONY OF ROGER CLEGG, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL, CENTER FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY BEFORE THE U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS REGARDING THE PROPOSED EMPLOYMENT NON-DISCRIMINATION ACT 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act The Felon Vote

Trayvon Martin and a different view of 2012 race relations

Roger CleggUncategorized

The facts we know about the death of Trayvon Martin seem to change every day, but we do know one thing for sure: It would be a mistake to draw sweeping conclusions about race relations in this country based on one event in one suburb on one night. Related posts: TESTIMONY OF ROGER CLEGG, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL, CENTER FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY BEFORE THE U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS REGARDING THE PROPOSED EMPLOYMENT NON-DISCRIMINATION ACT Did Juan Williams libel LU’s Hans Bader? Five Mistakes Some Conservatives Are Making on Immigration Policy We Need More Bills Like This

Affirmative Action Questions for the Candidates

Roger CleggRacial Preferences

With the Supreme Court set now—in an election year— to revisit the issue of racial preferences in university admissions, the various political candidates need to be ready for questions regarding their stance on affirmative action.  Here are my suggested Q’s and A’s (originally posted on National Review Online here):   Related posts: Did Juan Williams libel LU’s Hans Bader? TESTIMONY OF ROGER CLEGG, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL, CENTER FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY BEFORE THE U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS REGARDING THE PROPOSED EMPLOYMENT NON-DISCRIMINATION ACT Five Mistakes Some Conservatives Are Making on Immigration Policy Good News: Trump Rescinds Obama’s “Affirmative Action” Guidance