Community Colleges Consider Limiting Affirmative Action

Following the lead of the University of California, the state’s community colleges are considering restricting affirmative action programs that affect hiring, business contracts and programs for minority students.

But protests from students, Latino groups and faculty prompted the state community college board to send the proposal back to lawyers Thursday for clarification. The board now plans to vote on the changes in November.

Unlike the UC Board of Regents policy adopted in July, changes to the community college system’s policies would not affect student admissions because the schools are required by law to accept all qualified applicants.

Calling the alterations “minor surgery,” Jose L. Peralez, state vice chancellor of equity and diversity, said the new rules would no longer dictate hiring goals for all minorities, only for those “significantly underrepresented” on campus staff.

“We’re really making an effort to build an alternative system, one that has similar goals and objectives but maybe doesn’t use the numbers,” Peralez said.

But Thursday’s special meeting at Ventura College drew a protest march by local students, as well as speakers from across the state opposing the changes.

Efforts to alter the policies predate Gov. Pete Wilson’s recent push to eliminate affirmative action in state government, said state community college system Chancellor David Mertes. “We went into a deliberate process,” he said. “We’ve had policies in place for a long time. We decided to review them to see if they’re in sync with recent court rulings.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has recently narrowed the parameters of affirmative action, and Wilson has filed a lawsuit against several agencies, including the community college board, to end preferential treatment based on race, gender or ethnic background.

“We cannot allow this lawsuit to intimidate us,” Janis Perry, president of the state Academic Senate, told the board. “We must fight it.”

Under the proposed policy, minority and women bidders on contracts would receive preferential consideration only when there is a proven history of discrimination.

Until now, the community colleges have used hiring goals based strictly on race and ethnicity. They have also favored women and minorities in handing out contracts. Under the new policies considered Thursday, preferential treatment in hiring would be given only to groups that are deemed “significantly underrepresented” on a school’s faculty and staff.

“What we’re going to have to do is sit down and figure out who’s significantly underrepresented,” said Jerry Pauley, Ventura community college district vice chancellor of human resources and affirmative action. “The only way it wouldn’t be more work is if we found out everyone was represented, and that’s not the case.”

But some faculty representatives protested the methods of determining underrepresentation. They asked the board to examine representation by discipline as well as in overall hiring, saying minority numbers are usually lower in math and science than in other areas. The board agreed to research those concerns.

For students, the new rules would not change admissions standards, which open the community colleges to anyone who is 18 with a high school diploma, general equivalency degree or a demonstrated interest in the school.

But the policy could influence programs geared toward minorities. The rules would allow a district to design a program for a specific group, but the district would have to open and advertise it to all students. Certain programs for low-income and disabled students would be exempt.