The speakers included Ward Connerly, who spearheaded the campaign to place the initiative on the November ballot. Linda Chavez, chair of the Center for Equal Opportunity, joined Connerly as supporters of the initiative. Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington Bureau, and Mark Fancher, ACLU of Michigan, opposed it.
Connerly, in his first West Michigan appearance, said it is "morally wrong" for governments to make decisions based on a person's skin color. He has a long history of advocating against racial preferences; in the early 1990s as a University of California regent, he led a push to ending the university's system of using race as a factor in admissions.
Fancher said it was appropriate that the event was held on a university campus, because "scholarships that consider race" would be among the programs affected if Proposal 2 passes.
The debate, part of the Professionals of Color Lecture Series, was sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
In related news: President Thomas J. Haas, co-chair of One United Michigan, wrote an editorial published October 14 in the Grand Rapids Press stating passage of Proposal 2 would threaten diversity. His editorial can be viewed online at www.milive.com/grpress, click on "Opinions."
Panelists, from left, Mark Fancher, Hilary Shelton, Linda Chavez and Ward Connerly, talk about Proposal 2. Jennifer Moss, from WOOD-TV 8, served as moderator / Photo by Courtney Newbauer
