In 1999, Jeb issues Executive Order # 99-281 that ends Affirmative Action in Higher Education and state contracting.

May 09, 2000

Jeb Bush’s admissions plan flawed
by Barbara Arnwine

There’s some good news and some bad news regarding affirmative action in Florida, 
where that issue is hotter than anywhere else in the country right now. 
The good news is that anti-affirmative-action campaigner Ward Connerly has called off 
a petition drive to place a proposal on the state ballot that would ban affirmative action.
The bad news is that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is pushing through his cabinet and the 
Florida Legislature measures that would accomplish essentially the same purpose.

Bush’s plan would do away with affirmative action at state universities. In its place, 
it would admit the top 20 percent of the state’s high-school students. 

Jeb Bush’s plan takes the wrong approach, and other states should not be so quick to 
follow suit.

There are several problems with this plan. 
First, it flies in the face of the role of admissions officers and the discretion 
that they have rightly been afforded in picking a well-rounded entering class. 
They know the students who are most likely to be successful in their institutions. 
And, by law, they are entitled to use race and gender as one factor in admissions decisions. 

Second, percentage plans often result in a cascading effect, where minority students 
who gain admission are clustered in the less prestigious of the state’s universities. 
In Florida, the two top universities have already admitted that the minority 
admissions will decline. This plan will close off opportunities in the flagship 
institutions and recreate the segregated educational facilities that Florida’s 
use of affirmative action has sought to remedy.

Third, this plan may result in dramatic declines in the numbers of women and 
minorities at professional and graduate schools. Jeb Bush claims his plan would 
ensure diversity at the same or higher levels. But the plan offers no assurance 
that it will reach that goal. 

Ironically, the success of the plan relies on the continued segregation of 
school districts. By admitting the top 20 percent of students in predominantly 
minority schools, Jeb Bush is saying that it is not only OK but necessary to keep 
those schools segregated. We as a nation should instead be working toward solutions 
to segregation. 

Proponents of this plan call it a colorblind approach and claim that we need to get 
away from consideration of race. This suggests that discrimination is a thing of the past. 
But Florida’s educational system is still being monitored by the Department of Education’s 
Office of Civil Rights because it has been so discriminatory. 

Proponents also claim that the plan could achieve the desired diversity all by itself. 
But many of the students at poor and minority schools can’t even participate in the 
20 percent because their schools cannot offer the college preparatory courses necessary 
to qualify, such as foreign language and lab courses.

This plan fails to provide the same opportunities for students in Florida that 
affirmative-action programs do. It takes the wrong approach by eliminating legal 
and successful programs. These programs are essential to prevent and remedy the 
discrimination that so many Americans face. 

Barbara Arnwine is the executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights 
Under Law, Washington, D.C.