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Governor defends ban on affirmative action Tuesday, June 24, 2003 Associated Press TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush defended his ban on race and gender preferences in university admissions Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled minorities may be given an edge when applying to universities. Under Bush's "One Florida" plan announced four years ago, universities were told they could no longer consider race or gender in admissions decisions. The preferences were replaced with outreach programs and a guarantee that high school students would be admitted into a state university if they graduated in the top 20 percent of their class....

FL Gov Jeb Bush wows the crowd at a recent FL event. Thursday, May 16, 2002 Tallahassee Democrat Mentoring goes corporate By Nancy Cook Lauer Gov. Jeb Bush's mentoring initiative is spreading from the classroom to the corporate world, thanks to a new Mentor-Protege Program unveiled Wednesday by the state Office of Supplier Diversity. It's the first state-sponsored program of its type, according to Windell Paige, director of the diversity agency. The program will pair minority- and women-owned businesses with corporations making more than $1 million a year. Its goal is to help minority businesses expand while giving them a...

As Gov. Bush was announcing the Early Reading component of Just Read, FL!, more good news was announced about One FL -- UF's increase in minority enrollment. UF Admissions of Minorities Rise By Carrie Miller GAINESVILLE -- University of Florida admissions of black and Hispanic students are higher than this time last year, inspiring "guarded optimism" from university officials that more minorities will show up and enroll. "It looks pretty encouraging," Provost David Colburn told the UF board of trustees Friday. Increasing diversity has been a top priority at UF ever since the state banned the use of racial preferences...

Now, college officials agree with Gov Jeb Bush: "One Florida is working." Gov. Bush, education leaders tout success of One Florida plan Sunday, March 24, 2002 By MARCI ELLIOTT, mrelliott@naplesnews.com It started with a bang, but not the kind of noise Florida's governor wanted to hear. Now, the Executive Office of the Governor is trying to make a louder sound: one of a horn tooting with a strong message about the One Florida initiative. The word going out about One Florida, the plan to eliminate race-targeted university admissions, is a simple, two- word message: It's working. A clamor went up...

FL Gov Jeb Bush, always spending time out in the field at FL schools, with students and teachers. Monday, March 11, 2002 Tampa Tribune Editorial Jeb's Higher Education Plan Is Clearly Helping Minorities [One Florida works] Gov. Jeb Bush has taken a lot of heat over his One Florida plan to eliminate racial quotas. Critics said the plan would resegregate state universities. Lost in all the ruckus was that the policy was aimed at defusing a referendum campaign to eliminate affirmative action, which would have stripped the state of any flexibility in aiding minorities. And Bush stressed his plan would...