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Admissions to medical, law schools challenged
By PETER WALLSTEN and STEPHEN HEGARTY © St. Petersburg Times, published January 21, 1999 TALLAHASSEE -- The man who led California's Proposition 209 initiative to eliminate racial preferences is looking to do the same in Florida. On Wednesday, he met behind closed doors with Gov. Jeb Bush to discuss his ideas. And today, Wardell Connerly will hold a news conference to release a study he says proves that Florida's major public law schools and medical schools discriminate against whites in admissions. "Florida's a state that needs to be dealt with," Connerly said Wednesday, after leaving his meeting with Bush. Connerly said he will decide this week whether to begin a campaign to put a constitutional amendment on the November 2000 ballot to eliminate racial preferences in admissions and the awarding of state contracts. He was accompanied Wednesday by two representatives of the state chapter of the Associated General Contractors, who said white contractors are at a disadvantage when it comes to winning business from the state. A spokesman for Bush said the governor would read the study but would not "get involved in anything that would be divisive to the state." "The governor would be open to some sort of ballot initiative if he's convinced there's a problem," said Bush's communications director, Cory Tilley. "But he's not convinced there's a problem. If there is discrimination, it will have to be dealt with." Connerly, who is black, is a millionaire businessman who has served on the California Board of Regents. He is leading the anti-preferences push nationally, and his presence in Florida prompted fear among his critics. He says he wants fairness. His opponents say his campaign is racist. "He needs to take his little butt back to California where he came from and leave us the hell alone," said state Sen. Betty Holzendorf, a black Democrat from Jacksonville. "Mr. Connerly is trying to polarize Florida. If he (leads a campaign here), then racism is back on the table." Tony Welch, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party, suggested Bush should not have met with Connerly. "Mr. Connerly is a scary individual, very scary," Welch said. "Anything other than outright rejection is failing the black community in Florida." State. Sen. Daryl Jones, D-Miami, chairman of the legislative black caucus, said black firms get only a tiny portion of state contracts and need more help, not less. "Any objective person who looks at the numbers would see that this is just not necessary," Jones said. The study, done by Thomas Dye, president of the Lincoln Center for Public Service, purports to show that African-American applicants have advantages over white and Hispanic applicants to Florida's medical schools and law schools. "I think we have some gripping statistics," Dye said Wednesday from his home in Delray Beach. "They show clear racial preferences for African-Americans over whites and Hispanics." Dye, a retired Florida State University professor, analyzed 20,000 admissions records over a three-year span, examining indicators such as grade point average and test scores. He found that scores and averages for black students admitted to medical school and law school were lower than those for other racial groups. "Florida's universities are hiding racial preferences in complex admissions processes that claim to be non-discriminatory yet deliberately result in different standards of acceptance ... based on the color of their skin," Dye said. "Being white or Hispanic is a disadvantage in the admissions process." Dye said Wednesday that he had not yet met Connerly. But he said he sent a copy of his 40-page report to Connerly and that he was interested enough to agree to attend Dye's news conference. Dye's organization, the Lincoln Center for Public Service, is a not-for-profit think tank formed in 1995. The organization has been criticized by some Florida Democrats who contend that it was formed as a political platform and fund-raising apparatus for founder Tim Ireland, the Republican candidate for insurance commissioner in 1994 and 1998. The center's research council boasts the membership of University of South Florida's Susan MacManus, the high-profile government professor who worked on Bush's transition team.
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