Groan…

Via Campus Reform:

Administrators at the University of California at Berkeley believe they have found a loophole in the state’s constitutional ban on affirmative action that will allow them to create an African-American scholarship fund.

“For too long, African-Americans on our campus have faced obstacles to feeling fully included in the life of our university,” Chancellor Nicholas Dirks said earlier this month in a press release announcing the program, which is described as “a comprehensive effort to address the underrepresentation and campus climate for African-American students, faculty and staff.”

“I think it’s likely that the climate and sense of inclusion would be much more healthy at double our current representation.”

In addition to establishing a $20 million scholarship fund earmarked for African-American students, the UC Berkeley African-American Initiative will also undertake other efforts to boost “recruitment and yield” of black undergrads and faculty; enhance the social, personal, and academic support provided to current and future African-American students; and “improve the classroom climate, including training and pedagogical resources for faculty and Graduate Student Instructors.”

Berkeley identifies three goals for the initiative: achieving and sustaining a “critical mass of African-American students, faculty, and senior staff;” ensuring that African-Americans “feel welcome, supported, and respected;” and delivering the message “that Berkeley is a welcoming place for African-Americans.”

In an interview with Berkeley News, outgoing vice chancellor for equity and inclusion Gibor Basri, who helped spearhead the initiative, explained that the definition of critical mass in this context “depends on your history, your place in society,” but said that the UC Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES) offers some potential guidelines. […]

“I think it’s likely that the climate and sense of inclusion would be much more healthy at double our current representation,” Basri suggested, adding, “[t]hat’s what it was at Berkeley prior to Proposition 209.”

Proposition 209, a state constitutional amendment passed by voters in a 1996 referendum, stipulates that the state, including political subdivisions such as the University of California system, “shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”

Basri told Berkeley News that he believes the initiative effectively circumvents the amendment, because it involves recruitment efforts rather than admissions policies.