总算比较理性了,good 🙂
http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_25356235/chinese-americ
CUPERTINO — Chinese-Americans were exhorted Sunday to redouble their
opposition to the proposed California constitutional amendment that would
reinstate affirmative action in public universities.
If passed by the Legislature and then by state voters, Senate Constitutional
Amendment 5 would jeopardize their children’s chances of being admitted to
state universities, opponents told more than 150 people gathered at a “Stop
SCA 5” forum at the Cupertino Community Center.
“It would be a serious mistake to let the Latino caucus secure the vote of
all Democrats,” said Ward Connerly, author of Proposition 209, which SCA 5
would overturn. Connerly’s proposition outlawed consideration of race in
University of California and California State University admissions. He
called SCA 5 “a violation of all democratic principles.”
Frank Lee, of the conservative Pacific Justice Institute, said, “No student
should be favored or degraded because of race.” He vowed that the institute
would sue if the initiative passed.
Proponents have said that SCA 5 would simply allow admissions officers to
consider applicants’ race.
The controversial anti-affirmative-action activist and former University of
California regent, dismissed that claim.
“I guarantee you the number of Asians will be diminished and the number of
Latinos will be increased” if SCA 5 passes, said Connerly. “That’s the whole
objective.”
MANY DIRE WARNINGS
Besides rallying opposition to the bill, Sunday’s forum sponsored by the San
Francisco-based Chinese-American Institute for Empowerment also served to
drum up votes for local Republican candidates and contributions to GOP
candidates elsewhere.
Sensing the potential political gain in this issue, the top GOP leaders of
both chambers addressed the session, which was conducted in Mandarin and
English.
Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, warned that the bill could
also restrict parent choice in K-12 schools, by influencing admission to
charter schools, what he called laboratories of innovation.
SCA 5 “takes away the incentive,” said Assembly Minority Leader Connie
Conway, R-Visalia. “Why work hard when that hard work will not be rewarded?”
She urged participants not to relent on their pressure, even if the bill is
set aside. “It’s like at the grocery store. Once it’s on the shelf, it is
always for sale.”
With five Asian-American legislators under heavy pressure from Chinese-
American parents, the bill’s passage in the Assembly isn’t certain. In
addition, three Asian-American senators who supported the bill have changed
their minds and asked Assembly Speaker John Perez to halt it.
Lee urged against compromise.
MORE SELECTIVITY
The safeguard against SCA 5 ever passing is to diminish the Democrats’
legislative majority, said Mei Mei Ho, president of a Los Angeles County GOP
group. Republican legislators oppose SCA 5. She suggested Silicon Valley
Chinese-Americans “adopt” GOP candidates — sending them contributions — in
the Central Valley and Southern California swing districts.
In 1996, Proposition 209 passed with support of 61 percent of Asian-American
voters. But since then, the Asian-American population has swelled, in part
from wealthy immigrants to Silicon Valley who have a starkly different
history from Asians descended from immigrant laborers of the early 20th
century.
And admissions have become more selective at elite colleges, including UC’s
Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses, which many immigrant Asians perceive as
the most desirable UCs.
Three years ago, Professor William Jiang of San Jose State University said
he found that Asian-American applicants needed to score 400 points higher on
the SAT test in order to be offered a slot at an Ivy League college.
If Democrats don’t watch out, affirmative action could do for them what
Proposition 187 did for Republicans in 1994, warned Shichang Miao of Foster
City. The anti-illegal immigration proposition, which was passed by voters
then invalidated by the courts, alienated Latinos from the Republican Party
for a generation.
Contact Sharon Noguchi at 408-271-3775. Follow her at Twitter.com/
NoguchiOnK12.