PROBLEM: As early as Tuesday, May 5th, Congress will be voting on
amendments that will fundamentally alter access to education by women and
people of color.
INTIATIVE IN THE HOUSE:
Rep. Frank Riggs (R-CA) is introducing an amendment on the floor, which
would prohibit universities and colleges from making admissions decisions
regarding any person or group on the basis of race, sex, color, or
national origin. The amendment will be offered to the Higher Education
Act (H.R. 3330) which is being re-authorized.
The Riggs' amendment is modeled after the California ballot Proposition
209, passed in 1996, which has resulted in a deep plunge of admissions of
minority students to colleges and universities in that state. Admission of
African American students at three University of California law schools
dropped by 71% in 1996-97, while admissions of African American, Chicano,
Latina, and American Indian students for Fall 1998 semester have dropped
by more than 50%.
Elimination of affirmative action in education will also take a toll on
women students who comprise more than 50% of undergraduate student bodies,
but are not well represented at the graduate level or in some majors, such
as mathematics and engineering. It is important to safeguard affirmative
action programs because they help redress gender, racial, and ethnic
discrimination -- practices that characterized university admissions for
decades in the past.
INITIATIVE IN THE SENATE:
On the Senate side, Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA), will offer an amendment H.R.
2646, the Expanding Education Savings Accounts Act, that would block-grant
most education programs and direct that these be administered by state or
local education agencies.
The Gorton amendment would obliterate provisions throughout the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act that aim to eliminate gender bias
in teacher training and curriculum content. In addition, schools would no
longer be encouraged to provide information about sexual harassment
as part of safe schools programs, address the special needs of pregnant
and parenting teens, or promote math or science courses to girls. The
Gorton amendment is a giant step backwards for women and girls in
education.
This amendment, if adopted, would effectively abolish the federal
Department of Education and shift funds in many previously targeted
programs to general funds. This means that states would
not have to provide financial assistance or operate special programs
under the Women's Education Equity Act (WEEA), Title IV (which monitors
civil rights compliance), Safe and Drug-free Schools program, bilingual
education, School-to-Work, and many other areas. As a consequence,
sex equity in education as well as access to education by economically
disadvantaged students would be diminished.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Please call your U.S. Representatives and Senators immediately. The main
number for Congress is 202-224-3121; the operator will connect you with
your U.S. Representative and Senators.
FOR THE RIGGS AMENDMENT ON THE HOUSE FLOOR ask your Representative to vote
against it. The message is that we must safeguard access of women and
minority students to higher education. And affirmative action is the best
way at this time. We must not limit the ability of colleges and
universities to attract a diverse student body and to make decisions on
how best diversity can be attained. We have already seen what Prop. 209
has done in California and it is clear that the same plunge in admissions
rates will occur nationwide if the Riggs amendment passes.
SIMILARLY, URGE YOUR SENATOR TO OPPOSE THE GORTON AMENDMENT that
would block grant nearly all education department programs. These
targeted programs are especially important to women and girls who have
traditionally been denied equal access to education. They were designed
to address special needs of female students that were being ignored
by state or local education programs. Federal program mandates under the
Department of Education and civil rights laws must be retained.
To find out who your Congressional members are, and for the scientific
foundation for APA's support for affirmative action please refer to the
Public Policy Office APA web site: www.apa.org/ppo
Jeanine C. Cogan, Ph.D.
SPSSI Public Policy Scholar
APA Public Policy Office
Phone: (202) 336-6153
Fax: (202) 336-6063
jcc.apa@email.apa.org
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