Published Saturday | March 8, 2008
Nebraska regents again oppose petition push to ban affirmative action-style programs
BY MATTHEW HANSEN
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

LINCOLN — For the second time in two months, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents officially urged voters to oppose a petition drive that seeks to ban affirmative action-style programs in the state.

This time, though, the regents got an earful from a pair of University of Nebraska-Lincoln professors who blasted their position and called university leaders' portrayal of the petition drive dishonest.

Gerard Harbison and Marc Schniederjans appeared at the board's Friday meeting and said the so-called "Connerly petition" would bar reverse discrimination and allow applicants for jobs and scholarships to be judged on their merits, not skin color, ethnicity or gender.

Harbison, a UNL chemistry professor, said university leaders are wrong when they say such university programs as Hispanic outreach centers and women's centers are endangered if the affirmative action ban qualifies for the November ballot and is approved by voters.

Similar programs exist at many universities in California, which has a similar affirmative action ban, he said.

"Please do the research," he said. "Please listen to both sides."

NU President J.B. Milliken said he has listened to both sides, done his research and concluded that it's a bad idea to bar the university from considering race, ethnicity and gender altogether when enrolling students, handing out scholarships and hiring professors.

Milliken said he had talked to Ward Connerly, the California businessman behind the petition drive and similar efforts in four other states this year.

He also has talked with California university officials who have dealt with the affirmative action ban since that state became the first to pass one a decade ago.

Milliken and other university officials ticked off some programs they say would be endangered by a ban.

A medical school student exchange program with historically black colleges could be illegal, they said.

So could a Latino recruitment coordinator at the University of Nebraska at Kearney and several pre-medical programs for minorities at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, they said.

"This would certainly have a negative impact on our enrollment," said Harold Maurer, chancellor of the NU Medical Center.

The regents passed a unanimous resolution opposing the petition drive.

They passed a similar resolution at the board's January meeting but decided to do so again after Harbison and others complained that the university didn't give those on the other side of the issue a chance to voice their opinions.
In other action:

• The board unanimously passed a program statement and tentative budget for a new $31 million business school at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

The building, which will be paid for by private donations, is expected to open in August 2010. The unnamed building will be next to the Peter Kiewit Institute on UNO's south campus.

• The board unanimously approved plans to build a College of Public Health and an addition to the College of Nursing on the medical center campus.

Those projects, which cost a total of $30.5 million, will be paid for largely with a donation from Ruth and Bill Scott of Omaha.
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