University of Arizona chief worried about the end of affirmative action

Tucson, Agency
The president of the University of Arizona, Robert Shelton, said in an interview with Efe that he is concerned about the effects a newly approved state law will have that puts an end to affirmative action programs.

Last Tuesday close to 60 percent of Arizona voters approved Proposition 107 that ends programs favoring women and minority groups in state-funded universities and community colleges.

"Proposition 107 is a symbol of the big changes universities face at this time of difficult politics in the state," Shelton, whose institution had expected the approval and worked to deal with its impact, told Efe.

He said that his institution will comply with the new statute, but added that he feels "frustrated" by the false ideas surrounding it.

Shelton noted that proponents of the measure claim the law will eliminate the quota system, even though such quotas have been illegal in the United States since 1978.

"In UA we never used race or gender as a part of admission criteria," he said.

Shelton said that the new state law will directly affect programs designed to attract women and minorities to courses like engineering and mathematics.

Private scholarships will also be hurt, above all when the donor specifies that a particular scholarship is intended for an outstanding student who is Hispanic, a woman or a person from another minority group.

"I believe that this law is an example of what we saw during the electoral contest, campaign after campaign designed to divide people instead of uniting them, playing on fears instead of inspiring hope," said Shelton, who has been UA president for four years.

This is not the first state law with a direct impact on the educational system. Next month a measure approved by the state legislature goes into effect that seeks to regulate programs of ethnic studies in public schools.

And in 2006 voters approved Proposition 300, which obliges undocumented students at Arizona universities and community colleges to pay tuition at out-of-state rates no matter how many years they have lived in the state.

The UA president expressed his concern not only for the impact these laws will have on minority groups, but also on Arizona's image.

Something that could affect the hiring of professors and the recruiting of new students.

When Gov. Jan Brewer signed state law SB1070 in April, the first to criminalize the presence of undocumented immigrants in the United States, hundreds of university students protested against the measure.

UA currently has a student body of 38,767, of whom 30.4 percent belong to minority groups, nearly half of them Hispanics.