Washington Lawmakers revive bid to Allow Public Colleges to Consider Race in Admissions

The state Legislature is again considering a major change to
Initiative 200 that would allow public colleges to consider race as a
factor in admissions. Although similar bills died in committee
last year, the Senate and House again introduced bills last week to
amend the 1998 voter-approved initiative, which banned the use of race
and gender preferences in public-college admissions, contracting and
hiring. Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, who introduced the Senate
bill, said it would put Washington state in compliance with a U.S.
Supreme Court ruling, which in 2003 said the University of Michigan law
school could consider race in admissions as long as it served "a
compelling state interest in student-body diversity." In the same
ruling, the court also struck down the University of Michigan's
practice of granting race-based bonus points to applicants in its
undergraduate admissions. "The [Senate] bill as crafted virtually
mirrors the U.S. Supreme Court opinion," Kohl-Welles said. "It allows
for consideration of race, national origin, color and ethnicity as a
factor — I will repeat, as a factor — not the only factor in admission
decisions." Senate Bill 5575 and House Bill 1586 would amend the
state Constitution, adding the following: • Public colleges will
not be prohibited from using race, ethnicity or national origin in
admission or transfer policies. • No race-based admission slots
or bonus points may be used in admissions. • All qualified
applicants will be individually and holistically considered.
Kohl-Welles said the bills failed last year because of a Republican
majority in the Senate. Now that Democrats hold the majority, she
thinks there is a better chance of passage. [more]