Voters ban affirmative action
Affirmative action is abolished in Michigan.
The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative was approved with 1,491,457 votes Tuesday. The opposition to Proposal 2 totaled 1,052,209, with 73 percent of precincts reporting.
Topinabee sophomore Dennis Lennox II said he was not surprised with the results.
“I expected the good citizens of Michigan would realize affirmative action based on race and gender is not acceptable,” Lennox II said. “It can be seen through the results.”
The amendment to the Michigan constitution bans public institutions from using programs that offer preferential treatment in Michigan to groups or individuals based on race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin for education, public employment or contracting purposes.
Muskegon junior Michael Hotwagner voted no on Proposal 2. He said he felt voters were not fully educated on the issue.
“When you close the poll and you read ‘Michigan Civil Rights Initiative,’ how is the average voter supposed to know?” Hotwagner said. “Uneducated voters wouldn’t know it was a shot to civil rights. That’s a blow to the civil rights movement.”
Public institutions affected by the proposal include state and local governments and public education, including college and university admissions.
Lennox said it is not right to have special preferences regarding law.
“Race and gender preferences will never be accepted in Michigan,” Lennox said.
Thomas Stewart, assistant political science professor, said people believe affirmative action is based solely on gender and race.
“It’s just a basic misunderstanding on what affirmative action is,” Stewart said. “(The outcome) is surprising and is based on some unrealistic analysis on what affirmative action has done.”
Hotwagner said the results are unfortunate, but he will not stop the fight for equality.
“We are going to have to start from scratch,” Hotwagner said. “But we won’t let this setback stop us.”
Lennox said there still is work to be done on the constitutional language of affirmative action.
The state will have to work socioeconomic status into affirmative action for it to be approved under the new amendment, he said.
