Regents re-do affirmative action vote
BY MELISSA LEE / Lincoln Journal Star
Friday, Mar 07, 2008 - 04:33:36 pm CST
New voices, same vote.

The University of Nebraska Board of Regents issued a re-do Friday on a resolution opposing a proposed constitutional ban on affirmative action, following complaints regents hadn’t heard both sides when they first voted in January.

At that time, the board voiced unanimous support for programs and scholarships to boost racial and gender diversity at NU, which the university says are at risk under the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative, a movement to end race- and gender-based affirmative action in the state.
But the board’s discussion of the issue wasn’t included on the pre-printed agenda released to the public about a week before the meeting. That angered Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative supporters, who say NU intentionally shut out their views.

UNL chemistry professor Gerard Harbison accused the board of violating the Nebraska Open Meetings Act and said he’d go to court if regents didn’t void the resolution.

Regents Chairman Chuck Hassebrook of Lyons maintains that the board was in compliance with state law.

But the board revisited the issue to show its commitment to open-meetings rules, he said.

This time, in five-minute blocks, two Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative allies had their say.

The board’s vote didn’t change.

“We will jeopardize many of the programs we haveâ€