Michigan group seeking to enact a state ban on affirmative action

[chomskysright]

From The Chronicle of Higher Education (you have to be a subscriber to obtain the article)

Friday, January 7, 2005

Activists File Papers to Put Measure Banning Affirmative Action on Michigan's 2006 Ballot
By SILLA BRUSH



A Michigan group seeking to enact a state ban on affirmative action in college admissions and government hiring filed petitions on Thursday to put the proposal on the 2006 ballot.

The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative submitted what it said were 508,202 signatures of support, starting what is likely to be a controversial two-year campaign, said Chetly Zarko, the initiative's spokesman. The project is backed by Ward Connerly, the University of California regent who has led efforts to abolish affirmative action in California and Washington State. ....

Organizers of the ballot measure had originally hoped to put the proposal to a vote in 2004, but a judge said last March that its language was unclear (The Chronicle, April 9, 2004). Mr. Zarko said the group was optimistic after an appeals-court ruling in June that supported the petition drive, but by then it was too late to gather the 317,757 signatures needed to put the measure on the ballot last year. Instead, the group postponed the effort until the 2006 election