State's Attempt to Outlaw
Minority Preferences Dies

The Arizona legislature's effort to eliminate preferences in public colleges and universities, as well as in other governmental entities, has been quashed barely one month after it started.

On February 25, the state senate defeated SCR 1005, a proposed amendment to the Arizona constitution that, if enacted, would have prohibited discrimination against or granting "preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting."

SCR 1005 was one of the most recent in a series of attempts by state and municipal authorities nationwide to outlaw minority-based preferences in public employment and education (see In Brief, 1998 EEO/AA Edition).

Reports of the measure's death may be--to paraphrase Mark Twain--greatly exaggerated. It could be presented later in the year as a voter initiative, or re-surface in a future legislative session.

Published in the Spring 1998 Edition of In Brief