U.S. Civil Rights Panel to Issue Criticism of One Florida Plan

Members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights have voted to issue a statement criticizing Gov. Jeb Bush’s program banning consideration of race and gender in university admissions and contracting decisions.

The federal panel voted, 6-2, to approve the statement late Thursday, said commission spokesman David Aronson. The statement will not be released until Tuesday, he said.

According to reports, the statements will say Bush’s One Florida program lacks the ingredients to increase diversity. However, there could be significant changes to the statement’s text, Aronson said.

Bush has dismissed the criticism by the commission. The panel, he noted, is dominated by Democrats.

“I think it was a purely political statement,” Bush said Thursday.

The governor has said the One Florida plan will increase diversity in universities and contracting jobs by expanding outreach efforts.

Through an administrative challenge, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People has blocked a key component of the plan--a proposal to admit the top 20% of each high school class if the students have taken college preparatory courses.

Bush questioned the timing of the release of the statement, noting it came out just before the final hearings on the case in late April, along with the presidential candidacy of his brother, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the presumptive Republican nominee.