Gov. Bush, education leaders tout success of One Florida plan

The Naples Daily News ^ | March 24, 2002 | Marci Elliot

[summer]

Now, college officials agree with Gov Jeb Bush:
"One Florida is working."

Gov. Bush, education leaders tout success of One Florida plan

Sunday, March 24, 2002

By MARCI ELLIOTT, mrelliott@naplesnews.com

It started with a bang, but not the kind of noise Florida's governor wanted to hear.

Now, the Executive Office of the Governor is trying to make a louder sound: one of a horn tooting with a strong message about the One Florida initiative.

The word going out about One Florida, the plan to eliminate race-targeted university admissions, is a simple, two- word message: It's working.

A clamor went up around the state when Gov. Jeb Bush announced One Florida in 1999.

Critics blasted it for eliminating the longtime affirmative action plan that had been in place since the 1960s to ensure minorities had a place in education, the workplace and society in general.

Bush and his top education leaders insisted One Florida would be even better than the old affirmative action, despite ongoing criticism.

The numbers are in, and the governor's office is spreading its I-told-you-so message around the state.

Florida Gulf Coast University, which keeps a very close eye on enrollment figures as the newest of Florida's 11 colleges, has numbers to show One Florida has affected its minority student population.

"I would say yes, it has had a positive impact," said Michele Yovanovich, director of admissions.

"FGCU's numbers are increasing in every area, and that would probably skew our data a little bit," Yovanovich said. "The One Florida plan probably had a positive impact as far as recruitment of students. Students know by now that if they're in the top 20 percent of their class, they can be admitted to a state university — whereas, before One Florida, they couldn't do that. The real impact is opening more possibilities."

Susan Evans, special assistant to FGCU President William Merwin, explained the "Talented 20," a component of One Florida, guarantees state university admission to the top 20 percent of high school graduates regardless of race, color or ethnic background.

"It was designed to broaden the opportunities for deserving high school graduates to attend Florida's universities," Evans said.

Evans pointed out that FGCU's student-population diversity was reflected in consistent increases every year since the university opened its doors in 1997, with the biggest jump in fall 2000, the first year One Florida was in effect.

In fall 1997, when FGCU opened with 2,600 students, the total number of blacks, Hispanics, Asians, American Indians and other minorities was 303, followed by 338 in fall 1998 and 386 in fall 1999.

In fall 2000 the minority total increased by nearly 100 — to 480.

The most recent minority total is 543 out of a total 4,300 students, counted in fall 2001, the current year. The numbers show the ratio of minorities to the overall student population has grown consistently along with the annual increases of all students.

Coinciding with the consistent increases since fall 2000 is the number of students admitted under the "Talented 20" plan, for which minorities accounted about one-quarter.

"This is a very positive sign," Evans said. "It shows the initiative is working."

Isaac Brundage, FGCU's director of housing, said there was not a large percentage of minority students living on campus.

"I would say probably less than 20 percent," Brundage said. "But we have a nice mixture of the minorities. Some are from out of town, but a lot are from the (Southwest Florida) area."

The Executive Office of the Governor said in a report released earlier this month that this year, more than 1,250 more minority students entered the state university system than in 1999, the year before One Florida went into effect.

In the 1999-00 school year, the report said, 10,609 minority students representing the first members of their families to attend college — referred to as FTIC, first time in college — were enrolled in the state's 11 universities.

In the current 2001-02 school year, 11,861 minority FTIC students are enrolled.

"As the entire university system switched from race-conscious to race-neutral admissions, diversity, in percentage terms, held steady," the governor's report said.

"Critics said it couldn't be done," it said. "They said minority enrollment would plummet if the state switched to race- neutral admissions. The critics were wrong."

Traveling around the state defending his One Florida plan, Bush told Floridians it would work much better than affirmative action. But critics decried the plan, saying affirmative action needed to stay.

Then in August 2001, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the University of Georgia's race-based admissions system.

The ruling, which applies to all states, set up a high barrier to the use of racial data in the admissions process.

The system in place before One Florida could not have passed the 11th Circuit's test — and the court endorsed many of the tools used in One Florida, the governor's report said.

Yovanovich said FGCU has used a non-race-based admissions standard from day one.

"We were so small, we made our admission decisions by personal review on every single file and did not use a point system," she said.

"We didn't have to change anything, while some of the other schools had to review and look at how they made decisions."



For more information about One Florida, click here.

[summer]

From article:

Then in August 2001, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the University of Georgia's race-based admissions system.

The ruling, which applies to all states, set up a high barrier to the use of racial data in the admissions process.

The system in place before One Florida could not have passed the 11th Circuit's test — and the court endorsed many of the tools used in One Florida, the governor's report said.

Meanwhile, the FL Dem gov candidates keep saying that if elected, they intend to return FL to affirmative action. How do they intend to do that, in light of this court ruling? Do facts ever get in the way here?


Bill McBride: "Janet Reno and I support
affirmative action -- even if the courts don't."

[summer]

Bumping for index.

[pt17]

Bill McBride: "Janet Reno and I support affirmative action -- even if the courts don't."

OK, then take this :-)

[pt17]

OK, summer, I can't doodle around all day waiting for you so I'll do this one myself. :-)

Behind every good man, there a ............ uhh................. Never mind.

[summer]

LOL....

[summer]

Nice to see college officials AGREEING with Gov. Bush! :)

[summer]

I think this is what you were talking about, with Reno. This article is now linked on Drudge:

Michael J. Fox part of Parkinson's 'cluster'

By ALLISON LAWLOR

Globe and Mail Update and Canadian Press

Thursday, March 21 – Online Edition, Posted at 8:33 PM EST

B.C. native Michael J. Fox is one of four people who worked on a sitcom filmed in Vancouver in the late 1970s who were later diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, according to a documentary to be aired on CTV next month.

The documentary, which will air on April 7, raises questions about whether it is coincidental that four cast and crew members of the CBC sitcom Leo & Me were later diagnosed with Parkinson's.

Neurologists studying the disease have theories that exposure to viral infections or environmental toxins can trigger Parkinson's several years later. Donald Calne, director of the Neurodegenerative Disorders Centre at the University of British Columbia Hospital, said some studies point to a relation between the disease and environmental factors but added that more studies need to be done.

"For most patients environment plays a larger role [than genetics]," Dr. Calne told globeandmail.com Thursday.

Dr. Calne said two of his patients, whom he has been seeing for several years, worked with the Canadian-born actor.

Dr. Calne said epidemiological studies have found that there is an increased risk of the 'clusters' of the disease among certain occupations such as teachers, medical workers, loggers and miners.

These are people who either live and work in close proximity to one another or are in environments where they are more exposed to viral infections, he said.

The same studies also found less risk among people who spent more of their time at home.

Dr. Calne said only a small number of people with Parkinson's have a family history of the disease and the genetic forms of the disease are "extremely rare."

"The environment is most important for most patients," he said.

Mr. Fox appears in the TV documentary visibly shaking and talks about the disease's effect on his life. He said there are things he can no longer do.

Mr. Fox, who now devotes much of his time to fundraising for Parkinson's research, also said he is confident scientists will soon achieve a breakthrough in treating the disease. Copyright © 2002 Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[summer]

FYI. :)

[mafree]

You're right-- GO JEB!!

[summer]

bttt!

[summer]

FV and RC -- Check out pt17's posts #3 and #4. LOL... :)

[davidosborne]

great article thanks for the ping

[summer]

bttt

[AmishDude]

You might have to start touting Brogan, looks like he might actually be a drag on the ticket! BTW, does that quote sound like McBride is running solely to be Reno's Lt. Gov. running mate? Or perhaps he knows for sure that Reno's dropping out?

[summer]

You might have to start touting Brogan, looks like he might actually be a drag on the ticket!

LOL! No, silly; he is a former teacher/principal/superintendent, and he is doing a great job as LT Gov! But -- you make a good point. More media exposure is in order for him! :)

PS As for the Dem candidates, based on what they've done so far, I think their strategy is: to lose the gov race.

[AmishDude]

Is the Gov./Lt. Gov. a one-vote ticket, or do they run separately?

[summer]

Well, on the GOP side -- Bush and Brogan-- THAT's the ticket! I don't know how they do it with respect to a FL Dem primary --- I think the people who want to head the Dem ticket run in the primary. And, then, the winnner of the primary chooses a running mate for the general election. That's just my guess.

[summer]

I hope that answers your question -- because, no, there are not "separate votes" for the ticket. But, how they do it in PA?

[summer]

I meant: How do they do it in PA (with respect to the ticket)?

[AmishDude]

PA has a single-ticket system also. (I had forgotten -- shame on me!)