The battle over affirmative action is raging again - and this time, the final decision might be in the hands of Michigan voters.
The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative is a group seeking to ban preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity and national origin from all public institutions. The group started a petition drive on Monday in an effort to put a constitutional amendment banning such practices on the November ballot.
To succeed, petitioners must secure more than 317,000 signatures from registered Michigan voters by July 6. But group members say they are aiming to collect 400,000 signatures.
Jennifer Gratz, one of the plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit against the University of Michigan undergraduate admissions policy, said she returned from California to head the initiative. Gratz claimed she was denied admission to U-M because she is white.
"I don't want anyone to go through what I went through nine years ago," said Gratz, executive director of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. "Contrary to what our opponents say, what is truly divisive is policies that divide based on race."
Those opponents include Citizens for a United Michigan, a group of statewide religious, civil rights, political and business leaders against the proposal. The group held a press conference at the state Capitol on Tuesday to discuss strategies for countering the petitioning.
"Our mission is to ensure that the public is informed - certainly before signing a petition," said Michael Rice, executive director of Citizens for a United Michigan.
Officials on both sides of the issue said student interest will play an important role in the fate of the ballot proposal.
"We will be contacting student governments all around the state," said David Waymire, executive vice president of Marketing Resource Group, who is helping Citizens for a United Michigan with public relations and marketing.
The group might find support from students such as Varsha Ramakrishnan.
"(Racial preferencing) shouldn't be banned," the James Madison freshman said. "It provides students a good opportunity to equalize their education, especially in Michigan where there are distinct urban settings. It allows students to pursue higher education like MSU."
But Tim O'Brien, campaign manager for the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, said he believes people in the younger population, such as pre-med freshman Sharlene Cooper, are more inclined to support the proposal.
"It's not fair," Cooper said. "I would be mad if I were someone with a 3.2 (grade-point average) that got in because she didn't have the same opportunity as someone of a different color or race. Everyone should be on the same level."
For this reason, O'Brien's organization will be working with groups on campus to help gather signatures and gain support from students who feel racial preferences should be banned.
