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Another
Warner Flip-Flop
The
governor is critical -- after the fact -- of
Virginia Tech's new, race-neutral admissions policy.
Why was he silent before, when decisions were being
made?
What
a difference a year makes!
Last
spring, Gov. Mark Warner had no comment when asked
for his reaction to Attorney General Jerry
Kilgore’s legal advice to Virginia’s colleges to
avoid using race or ethnic background as a basis for
admissions decisions.
Just
short of a year later, however, Warner criticized
Kilgore’s advice after the board of visitors of
Virginia Tech adopted a race-neutral admissions
policy.
Does
anyone see a pattern developing with Warner? Members
of college boards are certain to wonder what the
governor wants. After his obvious position of not
having a position a year ago, he now says he is
“extremely concerned” about Virginia Tech’s
race-neutral policy and insists that the Tech board
reverse its policy.
Warner
attacked the board for adopting its new policy
without adequate public discussion. Yet, the issue
has been debated exhaustively for months in every
medium. Where was the governor during all these
months?
Every
member of a Virginia college board is potentially
subject to a lawsuit by an applicant denied
admission to the college on the basis of a
race-based admissions policy. It’s the attorney
general’s duty to advise board members how to
avoid liability.
In
providing advice to the boards, Kilgore was on solid
ground. The federal agency responsible for
overseeing compliance by public colleges with the
federal Civil Rights Act — the Office for Civil
Rights of the U.S. Department of Education —
concluded in 2001 that there were no policies or
practices in Virginia’s public higher education
system that can be traced to the former segregated
system and no evidence of continued discriminatory
effects from that practice of segregation.
Because
of that federal finding, board members at
Virginia’s public colleges were risking personal
liability if they pursued an admissions policy based
on racial preferences to correct the effects of past
segregation. That is the very issue that confronts
the U.S. Supreme Court this spring. A decision is
expected by the end of June.
In
the meantime, the law in Virginia and other states
in this federal judicial circuit is clear.
Race-conscious admissions policies designed to
remedy past segregation can only be justified where
there remains some vestige of that past segregation.
According to the federal Office of Civil Rights,
there is no such vestige today.
Despite
Warner’s display of surprise and “extreme
concern” about the Virginia Tech decision, he knew
or certainly should have been aware that the State
Council of Higher Education and, presumably, his
Secretary of Education had been actively involved in
discussions about college board members’ potential
liability. Kilgore’s advice and the conclusion of
the federal Office for Civil Rights have long been
known within the Warner administration.
It
seems that before the Tech board’s recent
decision, everyone in America had an opinion on
race-conscious admissions practices — except
Warner. His johnny-come-lately position is another
example of his failure as a leader.
Even
worse, Warner has chosen the favorite tactic of
Democrats — the race card. He has decided to stir
racial animosities for political advantage.
Virginia
will never get beyond its present situation and may
even lose ground in race relations if Warner and
other politicians continue to demagogue. When will
we ever be able to discuss public policy issues
without fear that the real racists will jump on any
departure from political correctness as a sign of
bigotry?
--
April 7, 2003
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