The ballot drive was led by Jennifer Gratz, a White student from suburban Detroit who says she was turned away from the University of Michigan in 1995. She says if she had been Black, American Indian or Hispanic, she would have been admitted. Gratz was involved in the initial lawsuit against the university.
Gratz said early Wednesday that she expected her fight to end race and gender preferences in Michigan would continue within the next few days. She also suggested that other states could be targeted for similar proposals.
California and Washington have passed similar measures in the past decade.
“I take it as the people of Michigan told big business, big labor and big government — judge us on our merits. Don’t judge us on our skin color,” Gratz said. “We will continue this fight across the nation.”
Gratz heads the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, which was aided by Ward Connerly, a Californian and one of the nation’s most visible opponents of race and gender preferences.
Connerly’s Sacramento-based group, the American Civil Rights Coalition, was a major financial backer of the proposal.
— Associated Press
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