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The Center for Equal Opportunity is a national leader in the fight against racial preferences and reverse discrimination. Here is CEO's latest news. |
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The Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) sponsors conferences, supports research, and
publishes policy briefs on issues related to race, ethnicity, assimilation, and public
policy.
CEO's President, Linda Chavez, is
frequently seen on TV news and talks shows debating against supporters of: reverse
discrimination, lower academic standards for selected ethnic groups, and race-based
policies in general.
Center for Equal Opportunity
CEO's December 1999 Report Index: (2) University of Virginia Racial Admissions - Revisited (3) Bilingual Education -- General (5) Teachers in Arizona -- Techniques for English Immersion (6) Don't Expect High School Graduates to Speak English (7) Convicted Felons Can Vote? Florida Governor Jeb Bush has signed an executive order declaring his opposition to preferences and quotas based on race, ethnicity, and sex in his state's contracting, university admissions, and employment. There are some significant hedges in his plan, but we generally applaud it-and humbly note that it was brought about, at least in part, by pressure from CEO that the governor urge universities in the state to share admissions data with us. We're still pushing to get those numbers, by the way, so we can see just how much discrimination is currently occurring. (2) University of Virginia Racial Admissions - Revisited Our story so far: Earlier this year, CEO issued a study, based on admissions data provided by the University of Virginia, that found strong evidence of racial and ethnic preferences (for blacks and Hispanics) in the school's admission policies. This has created great turmoil at Mr. Jefferson's University, with UVa officials suggesting that the data in the report was somehow flawed-an interesting defense, since they supplied the data after we paid for it, as provided under the state freedom-of-information act-but never quite denying our conclusion. Now UVa has admitted that it was indeed using the most blatant sort of preferences, simply adding points to the admissions index of certain applicants, based on their skin color. The president of UVa has promised to stop doing this. Meanwhile, however, CEO insisted on better and broader data from the university, so that we can evaluate some of the limp defenses it has been making. UVa has now supplied the new numbers, and we're planning a new study in the next few weeks. (3) Bilingual Education -- General Parents Know Best The House has passed H.R.2 and included some very positive and necessary changes to reform bilingual education, protect the rights of parents, and help language-minority students learn English as quickly as possible. It is essential that all of this language remain in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act when the Senate considers the bill. The most important item is the amendment offered by Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ), known as the "Parents Know Best Act." This essential language in Title I of ESEA represents the first time ever that any parental rights provisions have been included to protect language-minority students.
(4) Bilingual Education -- You Call These Guidelines? -- Calif. Prop 227 Resisted by Liberal Bureaucrats? We have just released our newest READ Abstract by Jim Littlejohn. Mr. Littlejohn attacks the recently issued California Department of Education guidelines for implementing Proposition 227 as a blatant attempt to get around the requirements of the law. Proposition 227 was approved by voters in June of 1998 and replaced failed bilingual programs with structured English immersion. But, according to one consultant who works with school districts, "as many as 70 percent of the districts in California are not complying with Prop. 227." The new state-issued guidelines will make it even easier for reluctant schools to avoid teaching children English. The READ report is being mailed to every school district in California. (5) Teachers in Arizona -- Techniques for English
Immersion CEO's READ Institute has been helping teachers in Arizona learn how best to teach English to students now in English immersion classes thanks to last year's vote to end the state's mandatory bilingual program. READ hosted a professional development, teacher-training conference last month in Los Angeles. Experienced educators, including Rosalie Porter, Russell Gersten, and Gloria Matta Tuchman, ran the conference workshops. There were nearly 100 teachers and administrators in attendance, representing close to 50 school districts not only from California but also from Arizona, where an initiative banning bilingual education is expected to be on the ballot in the 2000 election. Due to the great demand for this type of training and the success of the conference, READ is planning a second English immersion training conference for next year. (6) Don't Expect High School Graduates to Speak English A high school diploma from an American public school should be proof that the graduate speaks English, right? Not if the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) gets its way. Attorneys for MALDEF are suing the state of Texas, arguing that the state graduation exam has a "disparate impact " on minority students and that they should not be required to take it. If MALDEF is successful, this ruling could endanger all standardized tests in Texas and in other states as well. Rosalie Porter, a CEO board member and national expert on bilingual education, is testifying as an expert witness for the state of Texas against MALDEF's position. Dr. Porter and Jorge Amselle also spoke last month at the National Press Club regarding bilingual education and recent legislation in Congress. (7) Convicted Felons Can Vote? CEO general counsel Roger Clegg testified on October 21 before the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution, regarding H.R. 906, which would create a federal right to vote for felons. That's right: this bill would override the laws of those states-the majority-that limit the rights of felons to vote in federal elections. Mr. Clegg pointed out that this bill is bad policy, and that in any event Congress has no authority to pass it. He stressed that "Voting is a right, but it is also a privilege," and that "It is not unreasonable to suppose that those who have committed serious crimes may be presumed to lack the trustworthiness and loyalty" we require of voters. He also noted that the Constitution gives the states the authority to determine who can vote, absent their violation of some other constitutional provision, and that it cannot be credibly asserted that the states have some invidious and discriminatory reason in limiting the voting rights of felons. Vist The Center for Equal Opportunity's Web Site at: www.ceousa.org |
Center for Equal Opportunity
More than one year ago, in the wake of Proposition 227, OCR prepared a detailed memorandum to answer questions regarding the initiative. Stefan Rosenzweig, the director of the West Coast regional office of OCR in San Francisco, was instructed to distribute this document to California school districts. Instead, he ignored this order and chose to send out his own letters, which were misleading and intended to thwart the effects of Proposition 227. "Clearly, Rosenzweig is pursuing his own agenda. He is a federal official but is behaving more like an advocate for the anti-227 cause. Perhaps he should resign his federal job to pursue his political interests." said Linda Chavez President of CEO. Indeed, prior to working for OCR, Mr. Rosenzweig was Executive Director for Public Advocates, Inc., a radical pro-bilingual education litigation organization. For this reason the Center for Equal Opportunity has mailed the original OCR memorandum to every school district in California. "If Rosenzweig won't do his job, then we will," added Chavez. CEO is a non-profit research organization in Washington, D.C. Copies of the letter and memorandum are available by contacting CEO. -30- Visit CEO's web site at: http://www.ceousa.org/ END CEO Advisory Nov. 4, 1999. |
Center for Equal Opportunity
Explained author Roger Clegg, "Comparable worth is not about the idea that men and women should receive equal pay for equal work. This principle has been part of federal law for over 35 years. It is a settled issue." Rather, comparable worth embodies the belief that pay should be set according to estimates of the "intrinsic difficulty" of a job, or on the basis of its "objective value to the community." According to author Roger Clegg, the drive to set pay according to comparable worth is "inconsistent with perhaps the lesson of the twentieth century," which is "that th e free market is infinitely better at setting prices and allocating society's scarce goods and resources than is a centralized bureaucracy." The monograph is presented to encourage greater understanding of this legal issue. It is not intended to influence legislation but to enlighten its readers through the thought, experience, and knowledge of others. The Center for Equal Opportunity's Web Site is located at: www.ceousa.org The National Legal Center's Web Site is located at: www.nlcpi.org |
Center for Equal Opportunity
CEO and the Pacific Legal Foundation helped Travell's father, George Louie, with legal costs and representation, which led the Oakland Unified School District into a settlement. CEO also paid for a tutor for Travell so he could be taught in English. This fall, when Travell starts second grade, he will be taught entirely in English. Mr. Louie lost in the lower court and the case was on appeal before the settlement was reached. This closes an ugly chapter in the tragic history of bilingual education - at least for one student. See CEO's web page at www.ceousa.org. Northern Exposure of Racial Preferences On September 9 CEO released the ninth in its series of reports on racial preferences at public colleges and universities, this time focusing on the four campuses in the University of Minnesota system. I traveled to the State Capitol in St. Paul to present the study at a press conference hosted by the Minnesota Association of Scholars. The day before I had given a copy to the President of UM at a private meeting with him. We found strong evidence that minority applicants for admission receive preferential treatment at UM's Twin Cities and Duluth campuses. The odds of a white candidate being admitted instead of an equally qualified black, Hispanic or Asian candidate at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities are 3 to 1, 5 to 1 and 6.6 to 1, respectively. A similar pattern was found at the University of Minnesota at Duluth. The study found disparities between minority and non-minority admittees with respect to ACT scores, high-school class rank, and graduation rates. And many white students are rejected despite having better qualifications than the average minority candidate. As with other studies, we discovered that Minnesota schools would not be resegregated in the absence of preferences. All universities, if they used a colorblind process, would have many nonwhite admittees. You can find both the full report on Minnesota and a summary on CEO's web page at www.ceousa.org. CEO Shakes up Virginia, Florida CEO's Higher Education Project - in which we are gathering admissions data from state universities and analyzing it to see if there is evidence of racial and ethnic preferences - has apparently succeeded in pushing two state schools toward colorblind policies. The Cavalier Daily, the University of Virginia's student newspaper, reports that a special committee is expected to recommend that UVA end its policy of admissions discrimination. CEO's report documenting the evidence of these preferences was published earlier this year, and it prompted the appointment of the special committee to look into UVA's policies. Meanwhile, in Florida, Governor Jeb Bush has ordered state officials to determine if Florida's public colleges and universities are breaking the law by awarding racial and ethnic preferences. CEO has been in contact over the last few months with Governor Bush's office and with the various state schools, seeking admissions data for another of our studies there. Noah's Book On September 8 CEO's sister organization, the READ Institute, hosted a luncheon for Harlow Giles Unger, author of Noah Webster: The Life and Times of an American Patriot. Mr. Unger has written extensively on education reform issues. He discussed his book and the lasting impact Noah Webster has had on language issues and education in the United States. In Mr. Unger's own words, "Until Webster, no great nation on earth could boast of the linguistic unity that [he] created in the United States." The luncheon was filmed by CSPAN II for their Book TV series, which will air the third weekend in October. Barring Whites OK, Says Justice Department Our fight for equal opportunity in Hawaii continues. The case, Rice v. Cayetano, will be argued before the Supreme Court on October 6. Harold F. Rice, a citizen and qualified elector of the State of Hawaii, applied to vote in the August 1996 election for trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA). His application was rejected for the sole reason that he does not meet the State's racial requirement for voting in OHA elections. Hawaii limits the right to vote in such elections to those descended from aboriginal Hawaiians. In July the Clinton administration decided to file an amicus brief in the case. Incredibly, the Justice Department is arguing that Hawaii's bar against whites voting for trustees is not a racial classification. Roger Clegg and I have each written columns attacking the Justice Department's position, which have appeared in dozens of newspapers around the country. And Roger will be participating in a moot court for Ted Olson, the attorney who will be arguing Mr. Rice's case before the Supreme Court. Tete a Tete Imagine my surprise when Norma Cantu, director of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Education, called to invite Roger Clegg and me to lunch. The invitation may have been prompted by my June 21 testimony before the House Education and Workforce Committee opposite Ms. Cantu. During that testimony I criticized her department's handling of several key issues, including threats against school districts that try to introduce more English instruction for language minority children and a leaked plan to classify "high stakes" tests like the SAT as potentially illegal. Ms. Cantu brought in her top staffers for a frank discussion of OCR's actions and pledged to investigate some of our allegations. The luncheon has already had positive results. CEO has been able to obtain internal OCR documents that we've been denied in the past and may even have provoked some OCR soul-searching on the topic of Proposition 227, California's anti-bilingual education initiative. Following CEO's request, OCR discovered that its regional office in San Francisco had not distributed an OCR directive to comply with the law! END Linda Chavez / CEO memo September 1999. |
Center for Equal Opportunity
In his testimony, Mr. Clegg notes that the legislation is not only unwise but illegal if it is intended to advantage some racial groups over others. He also discusses the federalism concerns raised by moving away from district representation in favor of at-large elections and cumulative voting. During the Reagan and Bush administrations, Clegg served as a deputy in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. The testimony of Mr. Clegg and other witnesses will begin at 2:00 p.m. in Room 2226 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The Center for Equal Opportunity is a nonprofit research and educational organization based in Washington, D.C. It focuses on civil rights issues nationwide. Visit CEO's web site at www.ceousa.org for more information. |
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