Rudy, please remove me from your list, I have retired from the University.
Quoting "Redmond, Rudy (DLEG)" <[log in to unmask]>:
> http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-2/122165735332411
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> A helping hand for minority students
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> Wednesday, September 17, 2008
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> Grand Rapids Press
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> Proposal 2, the anti-affirmative action ballot initiative passed by
> Michigan voters in 2006, has made it more difficult for non-white
> students to get to -- and through -- public universities in the state.
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> A new organization called the Imagine Fund can lessen that problem, by
> legally providing scholarships to minority students with help from
> private donors. The fund is a prototype of the sort of private-sector
> response needed to help historically disadvantaged people get an
> education, and a chance at a better life. A clear illustration of the
> problem facing minorities can be found in enrollment figures for this
> year's freshman class at Grand Valley State University. The number of
> black, Asian, American Indian and Latino students coming into the school
> dropped by 30 percent over last year's enrollment. These incoming
> freshman are the first to feel the effects of Proposal 2, which banned
> consideration of gender and race in public contracting, public
> employment and public education. Enrollment numbers for other state
> universities aren't yet available.
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> In addition to ending affirmative action for purposes of admissions,
> Proposal 2 did away with race- and gender-based scholarships that are
> publicly funded. GVSU has such a fund, the Bert Price Awards
> scholarships, that provided full rides for academically qualified
> minority students. In 2006, $5.7 million from the fund was awarded to
> 825 students. Beginning this year, the scholarships must come to an end,
> though current scholarship recipients will receive the money until they
> complete their education. The money will be funneled into new
> scholarships tied to where people live and their incomes, instead of
> race.
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> The decline in minority freshman enrollment at GVSU no doubt has many
> causes, including fierce competition from other schools. However, the
> new limits placed on minority scholarships has certainly fed the
> drop-off, as students and their families struggle to pay fast-rising
> college bills. The climbing college costs conspire against minorities in
> particular, who as a group come from less financially-well off
> backgrounds.
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> The Imagine Fund was established last year to address the reality that
> people of color will find it more difficult to get through college now
> that schools are prohibited from offering them financial help based on
> race. Set up as an independent non-profit, the fund can legally consider
> race, gender and other factors in handing out awards. The organization
> expects to begin offering scholarships in the 2009 school year.
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> The group, which has thus far collected $225,000 in donations, is
> patterned after the College Success Foundation in Washington state, a
> response to an anti-affirmative action initiative passed there in 1998.
> Since its founding in 2000, the College Success Foundation has granted
> 4,000 scholarships and has raised $300 million -- an indication of the
> kind of success the Imagine Fund could have with the right leadership
> and support.
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> The support should come first of all from businesses and foundations
> that favor additional help for minorities and other historically
> disadvantaged groups. Many business groups fought Proposal 2, and lost.
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> Not lost, however, is the opportunity to help young people succeed. The
> law has put an end to some of those efforts in public institutions. That
> makes it all the more imperative that private donors pick up the slack.
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