Conventional wisdom once said that government policies giving minorities a leg up in hiring and college admissions helped improve diversity and end discrimination. Over the past several years, that conventional wisdom was questioned. Most believed that there was a time and a place for the government’s preferential treatment of minorities, but many in our state began to question if that time and place had passed. 

In 1998, more than 58 percent of the nearly 2 million votes cast approved an initiative to do away with Washington’s preferential treatment of minorities. Call it quotas, call it discrimination, call it what you will, but clearly Washingtonians were tired of the state’s preferential treatment practices, often referring to the practices as reverse discrimination. 

Voter approval of I-200, dubbed the Washington State Civil Rights Initiative, meant that the state could no longer give preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in public employment, education or contracting. 

Repeated attempts by then-Gov. Gary Locke to sidestep implementation of this voter-approved mandate included efforts to step up recruitment for minority applicants at public universities throughout the state. 

Other opponents of the initiative painted a picture of doom and gloom for minorities in Washington, promising decreased minority enrollment at public universities, among other things. 

Statistics from Washington’s Higher Education Coordinating Board directly contradict this misguided forecast by clearly showing that since the implementation of I-200, minority enrollment for freshman at the University of Washington, for example, has actually increased. In 1998, prior to the implementation of I-200, Hispanic/Latino freshmen enrollment was 196 students – in 2004 it was 226 students. Similarly, African American freshmen enrollment in 1998 was 124 students – in 2004 it was 148 students.  The freshman class today at the University of Washington is the most ethnically diverse class in the school’s history. 

This information demonstrates an argument rarely uttered -- preferential treatment was clearly hindering the progress of minorities, serving to weigh them down rather than giving them a boost. Unexpectedly, I-200 actually served as a boost, opening the floodgates for minority students’ access to higher education in Washington. Why then are there still efforts to repeal I-200? 

Those leading this effort would have you believe that their so-called tweak to I-200, as they are proposing with Senate Bill 5575, does not set aside prohibitions against preferential treatment. This is patently false.  

This legislation is an all-out repeal of I-200, turning back the clock to a time prior to the voters’ overwhelming approval of the initiative when colleges and universities employed preferential treatment practices, considering race, color, ethnicity or national origin in admission policies in an attempt to promote diversity. 

Given the statistics about increased minority freshman enrollment at the University of Washington, Senate Bill 5575’s repeal of I-200 is an all-out assault on minorities. Reimplementing preferential treatment will only serve to reduce diversity, not enhance it.  

I-200 should remain untouched and recognized as our best modern-day tool to keep the playing field level for all. 

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