GOV BUSH FILES AMICUS BRIEF IN U OF MICHIGAN PREFERENCE CASE [Jeb's Amicus Brief linked here]

www.myflorida.com ^ | Jan. 16, 2003 | State of FL

[summer]

Thanks for the bump, TwoStep! :)

[summer]

Dog, BTW, Thanks for your reply on this thread. :)

[justshe]

Thanks, summer. It is favorite photo...and for me, epitomizes and reminds all...to NEVER....EVER...FORGET. His emotion just couldn't be contained...while you KNEW there was a resolve of steel just below the surface.

[summer]

Yes, that resolve comes through, despite the obvious horror at 9-11. Thanks.

[Howlin]

Did you get an answer?

[deport]

He apparently was too busy holding other people's feet to the fire when in fact he should have been holding his bud 'Trent Lottless' feet to the fire instead. Trying to blame the President when ol' Trent was the man in charge of getting legislation passed in the Senate since back in 1995/6 whenever Dole resigned.

[justshe]

~~~Did you get an answer? ~~~

HA!

[justshe]

Apparently.

But STILL no concrete answers about how TLB thinks this legislation can be pushed thru Congress.

I wait.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

bush bump

[Austin Willard Wright]

Exactly what does Condi Rice think of the Michigan quotas. Is she for them or against them? What exactly did she say in her statement to the media on this point? If she endorsed the Michigan quotas, she is a gigantic disappointment to those of us who have defended her.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

read this thread and I think you will be happy with condi

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/824795/posts

[summer]

BTW, I have heard conflicting reports about Condi Rice's position on this issue of affirmative action, and I have no idea where she stands.I have heard she thinks race is one of "many factors" that SHOULD be considered (this is NOT Gov Bush's position at ALL). And, I just listened to a new liberal talk show on the radio, praising Condi for her position "totally in favor" of affirmative action. So, I am completely lost with respect to her actual position.

[Kryptonite]

Boy does that photo/story bring back memories for me (if you recall my battle with a FAMU grad over Jeb's role in bringing the law school back to life).

Summer, that discussion has been renewed, with the twist this time over the effect of increasing minority applications and enrollments in Florida (under Jeb's plan) and Texas (GWB's plan). Could you be a dear, again, and link some info/articles about how the effectiveness of these programs? As I recall, both Jeb and George have demonstrated that access for minorities can be increased without any racial preferences. TIA

[Kryptonite]

BTW summer, I can't read the brief for some of the info sought because my computer stinks!

[fightinJAG]

this "legal mind" is still pending her second cup 'o joe.

Insufficient neurotransmission without caffeine.

[fightinJAG]

"it only attacks the specific policies at UM" DUH. Supreme Court RULES and the general PRACTICE OF LAW require that briefs stick to the specifics of the case and controversy at hand. Those who truly want to understand the dynamics of this case, as opposed to just throwing doo-doo against the White House wall to see what will stick, please go to the excellent discussion held on the previous big thread on this issue.

[summer]

Re your post #53 - From the Orlando Sentinel, this graphic shows minority enrollment before and after affirmative action was eliminated from admission standards in TX, CA and FL:

[summer]

Also:

'One Florida' may affect affirmative-action ruling

By Scott Powers | [Orlando] Sentinel Staff Writer

Posted January 18, 2003

University of Florida students Marilyn Basillo and Lydia Washington are real-life examples of Gov. Jeb Bush's legal argument that race-based college admissions should be outlawed at the University of Michigan and everywhere else.

The two minority students represent Florida's success so far in maintaining racial diversity at its premier university in the two years since the governor abolished affirmative action with his "One Florida" plan.

Florida's example could help the U.S. Supreme Court decide this spring whether to throw out the strategy of racial preferences used for decades by America's best colleges and universities to enroll more black, Hispanic and American Indian students.

Civil-rights activists and most higher-education leaders want the court to uphold Michigan's admissions policy, which is being challenged by white students. Supporters say that considering race when choosing applicants is the most practical way to manage a college-admissions game that otherwise relies on entrance exams favoring white and Asian students.

But this week, Florida's governor and his brother, President Bush, entered the Michigan case by filing legal arguments making the opposite point: that affirmative action's time has gone, and that they have found a better way.

"Florida's experience under Governor Jeb Bush's One Florida Initiative demonstrates that diversity can be attained through race-neutral means," the governor states in his legal brief to the court.

Florida's end to affirmative action came a few years after its end in California and Texas, where the president was governor at the time. Since then, universities in these states devised alternate strategies -- with mixed results. They aggressively re

cruit in inner-city high schools, offer academic help for students and teachers in those schools, guarantee spots for top students from every high school and follow more-complex admissions standards, which replace "race" with such vague factors as "overcoming hardship."

'Recruitment was awesome'

That strategy landed Washington, 18, who came to UF with a full scholarship this fall from overwhelmingly black Jacksonville Raines High School. It also attracted many of the 20 other black students who came with her from Raines this year, she said.

"The recruitment was awesome," Washington said of UF. "You know, some recruiters come to your school once and say, 'Come to our school.' Not here. They always came back to check on us. I know for myself, I wouldn't have even applied."

Basillo, 20, a sophomore, came to UF on scholarship from mostly Hispanic Miami Senior High, where few of her friends considered UF a few years ago. Now a recruiter herself, she said Miami Senior is full of students aiming for Gainesville.

"Affirmative action, I guess, is good in a way because it gives people more opportunity," Basillo said. "But the way we're doing it, going up to the schools and personally recruiting the students, and telling them how wonderful it is to pursue a higher education and attend a public university, I think we're getting through to them better and inspiring students."

Minority enrollment at Florida's 11 public universities has held mostly steady since One Florida, with some increases.

But historically, affirmative action has been critical only at the most elite universities and graduate and professional schools -- institutions that always had the highest admission standards and the toughest competition among applicants.

These schools, especially in California and Texas, have had the most difficulty maintaining diversity without overtly considering the races of applicants. Florida's most selective public school, New College of Florida -- a tiny liberal-arts college in Sarasota -- virtually failed to attract minority students, enrolling just one black freshman and nine Hispanics this fall.

UF, Florida's most selective full-size university, bucked the trend somewhat. Minority enrollment dropped modestly in the first two years of One Florida but rebounded this past fall.

After rockier starts, the California and Texas university systems also have managed to increase overall numbers of black and Hispanic students. But their elite schools -- the University of Texas at Austin, University of California at Berkeley and University of California at Los Angeles -- suffered dramatic declines. So did their best law, medical and business schools.

At both UC-Berkeley and UCLA, this year's freshmen class still was less than 4 percent black, and UT-Austin's was about 3 percent black. That is significantly below the percentages of blacks in those states.

UT-Austin law Professor Douglas Laycock said Texas is making progress, but he considers the alternative strategies to be impractical ultimately. For example, UT arranged with airlines to fly potential law-school applicants to Austin for free, only to discover it cost too much and didn't help enough.

What's more, Laycock said, aggressive recruiting loses effectiveness if every school does it, competing in the same pool of minority applicants.

"There is a desperate belief that we can add diversity without addressing race," he said. "But the magic bullet isn't there."

California's progress has been even slower since voters banned affirmative action there by approving Proposition 209 in 1996. A flurry of creative high-school-outreach programs have helped some universities, but not all -- at least not enough.

At flagship UC-Berkeley, black, Hispanic and American Indian students made up half as much of the 2001 freshmen class as in the 1997 class.

"Since that time, both admissions and enrollment have been climbing, and applicants as well; however, we have not yet come to pre-Prop 209 levels," said Richard Black, UC-Berkeley's assistant vice chancellor for admissions and enrollment.

"We're working very hard at this, but I would say that it is unclear whether we can regain those numbers."

Former Harvard University President Derek Bok, co-author of the highly influential pro-affirmative-action book, The Shape of the River, said the issue is not one of making up for past discrimination but of meeting current needs.

"Diversity enriches education. You get really quite remarkable percentages of students, white as well as minority, who believe a diverse student body has been a valuable part of their education," Bok said.

"The second thing is that all the major professions have articulated, in one way or another, that they really need more diversity," he said. "That's why they have written amicus briefs on behalf of the program. The same is true in business. Over 30 major corporations have written amicus briefs."

Foe faults goal

The man most responsible for ending affirmative action in California, University of California Regent Ward Connerly, calls the diversity argument a crutch. Connerly, who is black, said any commitment to diversity inevitably leads states and universities to cheat, by finding other ways to account for race.

Connerly briefly ran a drive in Florida to abolish affirmative action, then backed off after Bush announced One Florida.

"If it's the goal of government to achieve a preordained outcome [of diverse admissions] based on race, then I suppose Florida is probably the most successful," Connerly said. "I quarrel with that goal, however.

"The obligation of government is to make sure it treats its citizens equally, without regard to the color of their skin, their ancestors, their national origin, their -- quote -- race, whatever that means. There is nothing more compelling than that in my view," he said.

UF, along with Florida's other 10 public universities, has been focusing much of its efforts on expanding the pool of properly prepared minority applicants while it recruits, for a slower, longer-term approach.

One tactic is UF's 2-year-old "Opportunity Alliance" program, setting up partnerships with seven inner-city high schools, including Miami Central; Jacksonville Raines; and, starting this year, Jones and Evans in Orlando.

The program offers UF tutoring, mentoring, scholarships and teacher support, starting in ninth grade, plus recruitment.

As a result, Jones seniors Anthony Gay and Darius Moore say they have fewer reasons not to go to UF. Both are considering enrolling there next fall.

"The alliance program affects all of our kids," said Renee Dubber, coordinator of Jones' Academy of Business and Industry. "They say, 'This is what we can do for you. We want you to come here, and we'd love to have you, but now you have to work your butt off and get ready.' "

"I think with University of Florida and the University of Central Florida, which is also a great partner of ours, and with Florida A&M and Valencia, and a variety of other schools we work with, I'm hearing them say, 'Wow, you've got great kids here. We'd like to give them an opportunity,' " she said.

"I haven't heard University of Michigan come in here to say anything like that."

Scott Powers can be reached at spowers@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5441.

[summer]

RE your post #53, From the Orlando Sentinel:

More [FL] high-school students head for higher education

By Mary Shanklin | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted January 12, 2003

Lake Brantley senior Renee Arozqueta knows where she's going next fall -- the University of West Florida in Pensacola. What she does now will determine what she will do with her time when she gets there.

If she applies for scholarships now, she may not have to work her way through college. If she lines up financial help, she could live in a nice place on or near campus.

"My parents would really like to see me get some scholarship money so I can concentrate on my grades instead of work," she said.

January marks the official start of an increasingly competitive hunting season for high school seniors. Twelfth-graders want to bag bucks -- grants, loans and scholarships to colleges and universities.

The field of seniors hunting for financial help is larger than ever. In the past five years, the number of high-school graduates attending college has increased throughout Central Florida: Orange and Seminole by 21 percent each; Volusia by 16 percent; Osceola by 15 percent; and Lake by 14 percent, according to an analysis of new data released by the state Department of Education.

Why the increases? High-school guidance counselors and principals point to three primary factors -- Bright Futures Scholarships, aggressive college recruiting and job-related coursework at community colleges.

The Bright Futures program pays 75 percent of tuition and fees for students with a grade average of at least 3.0 in academic courses and scores of 970 on SAT tests or 20 on ACT tests.

Statewide, the number of Bright Futures scholars has increased from 107,000 in 1997 to 125,000 in 2000. In Orange County, about 5,500 of the school district's 7,000 seniors qualified for the scholarship last year.

As the Legislature struggles to find enough money to put more teachers in classrooms, the qualifications could change and the number of scholars could shrink -- not for the graduating class of 2003, but for subsequent classes.

"If a lot of these programs become impacted by the cost, I think you'll see a decline in the number and percentage of students moving forward," said Darvin Boothe, who has been principal of Lake Brantley High School in Seminole County for 25 years. "There's going to be some long-range fallout," he said.

Recruiting lured some

In addition to state scholarships, aggressive recruiting has also lured more high-schoolers into the ranks of higher education.

"When I first became principal 25 years ago, it was relatively unheard of to have anyone come to our campus," Boothe said. In comparison, the longtime principal expects that representatives from 50 to 100 schools will visit Lake Brantley this year.

Seminole County leads Central Florida, with 80 percent of graduates continuing their education, according to the new data from the Florida Education and Training Placement Information Program.

Elsewhere, the number of college-bound seniors varies: Orange, 71 percent; Volusia, 69 percent; Lake and Osceola, 62 percent.

Throughout Central Florida, students take different roads to continuing education. In Seminole, a third of graduates attend universities. In comparison, only 12 percent of Osceola grads go to four-year state colleges. The rest go to community, vocational or private schools.

Community colleges grow

In the past five years, the number of Central Florida graduates attending community college has increased twice as fast as the number of students going to universities, an analysis of the state report showed.

Community colleges have driven up enrollment by focusing on fields that are attractive to students looking for job skills, educators said. Boothe pointed to technology and early-childhood education as courses of community college study that lead to jobs.

Regardless of the reasons for the boom in higher education, this is the time of year when the ever-increasing field of college hopefuls begin to vie for dollars.

Counselors urge haste

Guidance counselors advise high-school seniors and their parents to start applying for federal loans as soon as they get their W-2 forms and other tax-related information from employers, lenders and others. Most of that information is available by late January.

The deadline to submit applications for federal loans is June 30 but it needs to be done sooner, experts say.

"You want it done by the first of March because your application is competing with other applications across the entire United States," said Robert Milstead, who helps coordinate Orange County's high school guidance counselors.

Filling out the forms is similar to filing income-tax paperwork, Milstead said.

Unlike the [FL] Bright Futures scholarships, family income is a factor in deciding who gets federal loans.

Margaret Gentile, Orange County's senior director of education services, said families should use a multi-prong approach to college bills.

"Nowadays, students can get loans at a lower rate than the parents. So you use Bright Futures. Students take out a loan, and parents take out a loan," she said.

Many scholarships available

Another source of dollars is traditional scholarships. The Orange County school district provides seniors with information about 200 scholarships, but thousands are available.

Once seniors have taken the time to fill out one application, it's much easier to apply for more.

"I have to start writing letters for scholarships because I've been bad and haven't been doing it," said Jaime Harman, 18, who plans to attend Seminole Community College when she graduates from Lake Brantley.

Mary Shanklin can be reached at mshanklin@orlandosentinel.com or 407 420 5538.

[scouse]

On the radio this morning I heard that here in Florida they are looking into having electronic classrooms. Jeb intends to make classroom size a moot point in the future.