Race OK as factor in enrollment, court says

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 3/17/9 | Bob Egelko

[SmithL]

SAN FRANCISCO -- A state appeals court breathed new life Tuesday into campus integration efforts, ruling that Berkeley does not violate California's ban on racial preferences when it considers the makeup of students' neighborhoods in deciding where they will go to school.

Berkeley's policy "does not show partiality, prejudice or preference to any student on the basis of that student's race," said the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco. "All students in a given residential area are treated equally."

The ruling is the first by an appellate court on a school district's voluntary integration plan since California voters passed Proposition 209 in 1996, prohibiting preferences by race or sex in state and local education, employment and contracting.

The case could be heading for the state Supreme Court for a decision on whether Prop. 209 forbids any consideration of race in government programs. The court interpreted the initiative broadly in a 2000 contracting case, its only ruling on Prop. 209, but did not say it whether it prohibited all government programs aimed at promoting racial diversity.

Alan Foutz, a Pacific Legal Foundation attorney representing a nonprofit organization that challenged the Berkeley program, said his client would probably appeal to the state Supreme Court, though no final decision has been made. He said the ruling "undermined (Prop. 209's) mandate for colorblind educational policy by allowing districts to continue using race in (their) student assignment decisions."

[Lancey Howard]

...the makeup of students' neighborhoods in deciding where they will go to school.

This is "reverse red-lining". No joke. Any honest court would see this.
Good luck finding one.

[TurtleUp]

Just move into a low-scoring predominately minority district to gain easy entrance to an otherwise unattainable school.

There may be a much higher demand for slum homes ... buy one just before sending in your child's application to UC Berkeley, get in based on "diversity", and sell it to someone with a kid graduating the next year. It could boost housing values in the worst slums of California, while making the racists in the UC system feel good about themselves. It's still stupid, but at least it's fun stupidity.

[2harddrive]

These “Judges” are the ultimate COUNTER-intellectuals!