When California voters go to the polls on November 5, they will vote on Proposition 209 — the so-called California Civil Rights Initiative — the ballot measure that would essentially outlaw affirmative action in the state of California.
The opening sentence of the measure says, “The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”
The initiative will not only eliminate admission and hiring affirmative action programs, but also outreach and recruitment programs for state or local public agencies in California.
I’ve written before about the follies of this ballot measure, and about the fact that this legislation has become a lightning rod for the fears and anxieties of the white middle class. The bottom line is that CCRI is bad legislation that has the potential for turning back the clock for people of color, and for increasing discrimination against women because it allows the reintroduction of “bona fide occupational qualifications” in the labor market.
But I wonder what effect this bad legislation has on daily collegial relationships on campus, and if Proposition 209 makes it more difficulty for faculty of color, who represent much less than 5 percent of all the faculty, to survive and thrive on campus.
In the typical academic department there are one or two African-American faculty members. Many already feel some isolation and manage to deal with both subtle and overt racism with some equanimity. In one of my first faculty assignments, I remember a colleague from another department mistaking me for a secretary, and then jumping on her feminist high horse (“well what’s wrong with being a secretary”) when I chided her about the assumption. I was later “counseled” that going off on folks would cost me when it came to tenure time. I don’t believe that any counseling was offered to the person who made a set of ignorant assumptions.
My set-to with a colleague happened a decade before affirmative action became a hot-button issue. With the efficacy of affirmative action being discussed almost hourly on California campuses, some faculty of color aren’t just managing racism, they are being assaulted by it.
