Equal Justice Society News - Newsletter Summer 2007 - Fall Symposium on the Impact of Prop 209

EJS continues to demonstrate the need for equal opportunity policies by documenting the impact of institutional and structural racism. One way we're doing that in a post-Proposition 209 California is by participating in the California Coalition to Analyze the Impact of Proposition 209. This broad-based coalition of groups and organizations examining the impact of Proposition 209 is supported in part by grants from the Fulfilling the Dream Fund and the Akonadi Foundation.

One of the focus areas of the Impact 209 coalition is on research uncovering concrete facts on the status of equal opportunity for California’s diverse workforce in the areas of public contracting and public employment. Much of the research on Proposition 209 in the decade since its passage has focused on the impact of the initiative in higher education admissions. There has been comparatively little research examining the impact of the initiative on public employment and contracting, and even less that looks at the secondary socio-economic impacts of the initiative. These issues are becoming increasingly crucial to examine as proponents of Proposition 209 seek to place similar initiatives on the ballot in a number of other states.

“With the rich and skilled labor force capacity of our state, people looking for work should have an equal opportunity to contribute to California’s economy,” said Eva Paterson, president of the Equal Justice Society. “People should not be forced into unemployment lines by nepotism. Small businesses -- whether owned and operated by women, people of color, or our neighbors down the street -- should not be forced out of business by large contractor monopolies.”

A recent research initiative by the Impact 209 Coalition seeks to unearth new empirical data on the socio-economic impacts of the initiative, which went into effect in 1997. In light of the fact that Californians have experienced an anti-affirmative action ban for ten years, the Impact 209 Coalition has issued a joint Call for Paper Proposals that: 1) provide new empirical research on the effects of Proposition 209 or analyze data to explore new directions in public policy to provide race- and gender-conscious equal opportunity; 2) explore linkages between the racial, ethnic, gendered, and classed dimensions of equal opportunity in the public sector, particularly post-Proposition 209; or 3) examine whether empirical changes that have occurred as a result of the initiative, particularly in public employment or contracting, trigger new or different legal theories to challenge the initiative or its effects. Visit Impact209.org for more details.

Anupama Menon was recently hired as a Symposium Coordinator for the Impact 209 Coalition. "Based on the yield of this research inquiry,” said Menon, “the Coalition and its partners expect to host a public symposium around these issues at UCLA in October 2007.”

A number of institutions at the University of California, Los Angeles, participated in issuing the Call for Proposals, including the Institute for Research on Labor & Employment, Center for Labor Research & Education, Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, Asian American Studies Center, Chicano Studies Research Center, and the Programs in Critical Race Studies and Public Interest Law & Policy at the School of Law. More information about the research and the symposium can be found at Impact209.org.

“As other states like Arizona, Colorado and Missouri face the possibility of twin initiatives in 2008, this is a pivotal time for California to look at the real consequences of this policy after a decade of implementation,” stated Paterson, who also serves as co-chair of the Impact 209 Coalition. “Ten years ago, Californians were told this policy would deliver greater work, business and educational opportunities to everyone in our state. Most indicators suggest that the opposite has taken place. This research calls for serious inquiry as to the status of opportunity in contracting and employment.”

EJS applauds recent California court decisions

EJS and other civil rights advocates applaud recent California court decisions dismissing legal challenges to programs designed to equalize opportunity in public contracting and public education. In one case, proponents of Proposition 209 argued that the initiative precludes cities like San Francisco from having ordinances that require outreach to minority- and women-owned businesses. However, “the Court of Appeal made clear that public entities have a constitutional duty to make sure that taxpayer dollars are not funneled into a discriminatory contracting system that benefits the ‘old boys’ network,” said Oren Sellstrom, Associate Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco.

In another case, initiative proponents challenged a Berkeley Unified School District school assignment plan that considered many factors, including race, in assigning students to schools. The Alameda Superior Court threw out the challenge finding that the District did not violate Proposition 209 by encouraging diversity in its schools. “Proposition 209 cannot stand as an obstacle to equal opportunity or as an obstacle to the remediation of discrimination or segregation that may occur in the public context,” Sellstrom added.

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