Digging Deep: The Michigan Mining Journal Reports on Last Night's Debate

One of the debaters, the Dean of Wayne State University's Law School,Dr. Wu, was asked by an audience member if he owed his academic position to affirmative action rather than merit. He refused to address, much less answer, the question. I wonder how Dr. Wu has been disadvantaged? Perhaps his 6 figure salary and housing alliance along with his comprehensive health care and fully funded pension only allow him to just get by. Perhaps he should try the life of an unemployed hard rock miner in the UP.

The text of the article follows:


Opponents and proponents of Proposal 2 participate in a public panel discussion held at Northern Michigan University Wednesday night. Proposal 2 aims to ban affirmative action for public employment, education and contracting purposes in Michigan. (Journal photo by Kristen Kohrt)

By KRISTEN KOHRT, Journal Staff Writer



MARQUETTE — Proponents and opponents of the Proposal 2 on the Nov. 7 ballot went face-to-face Wednesday night at Northern Michigan University in an emotionally charged debate.


=Proposal 2 would “amend the state Constitution to ban affirmative action programs that give preferential treatment to groups or individuals based on their race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin for public employment, education or contracting purposes,” according to ballot language presented by the Michigan Secretary of State.

The panel consisted of two opponents and two proponents of the proposal. Jamiel Martin, field director for One United Michigan, and Frank Wu, dean of Wayne State University Law School, opposed the proposal. Husband and wife Greg Brodeur and Diane Carey, both advocates with RaceFreeZone, supported the issue.

The discussion at NMU’s Bottum University Center was open to the public to help voting citizens make an informed choice in the upcoming election, said Cathy Dehlin, an equal opportunity officer at NMU.

“We hope to reach all voters in the community to help educate them on what Proposal 2 is, what it says and what impact is might have on Michigan,” she said.

Both sides were given the opportunity to express their views while answering questions from the crowd.

Brodeur spoke confidently on the passage of the ballot proposal. He said it hits close to home for him and his wife, who have a multi-race family, including an adopted son from Guatemala.

“(Our children) have the same education, the same parents, the same background,” he said. “But they will be treated differently because of their race.”

Carey said that banning affirmative action was an issue they believed in even before adopting their son.

“We were very supportive when Proposal 209 in California (a similar proposal) passed in 1996,” she said. “It gave us great hope.”

Brodeur assured voters that Proposal 2 would not bring back days of segregationist Jim Crow Laws or take rights away from women.

“Discrimination will still be illegal,” he said. “But this would make it illegal to discriminate against anyone, not just some people.”

Wu and Martin, on the other hand, described the proposal as fraudulent because of the way the petitions to place it on the ballot were collected.

Petitioners did not use the words “affirmative action” when they told voters this proposal would help minorities and women, Martin said.

The issue was brought to court in August. Arthur Tarnow, a district court judge in Detroit, declared that the supporters of Proposal 2 had lied to voters. But because all races were mislead, Tarnow decided to allow the proposal on the ballot.

“If (petitioners) had used the words affirmative action, people would not have stood for it,” Martin said. “If they used fraud to get on the ballot, they’ll stop at nothing to get this proposal passed.”

At Wayne State law school, 20 percent of a 220-student first-year class has minority status. Wu said if Proposal 2 is approved, it would have a significant effect on this number.

“We offer people opportunity,” he said. “We change people’s lives. I would be embarrassed if next year our entering class had just one African American.”

If the proposal does pass, Wu said he and the rest of the staff at admissions would do everything possible, within the law, to make sure their school stays diverse.

Brodeur and Carey, however, said the 500,000 signatures supporting the proposal is a sure sign the proposal will be approved on Nov. 7. Women especially have been supportive, Carey said.

“Forty-nine percent of women in the state have not been fooled,” she said. “They don’t think they were given their jobs because they are women. They think they earned them.”