Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

U. Nebraska student suing state officials over affirmative action legislation
By Alissa Skelton
Daily Nebraskan, U. Nebraska
August 04, 2008

Jeff Hall, a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and columnist for the Daily Nebraskan, has filed a lawsuit to amend the ballot language of a proposed race- and gender-based affirmative action ban in the state of Nebraska.

Hall, a senior secondary education major, filed the lawsuit against Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning and Secretary of State John Gale on July 25 in Lancaster County District Court.

Bruning's office was not available for comment.

Hall is a member of Nebraskans United, which opposes the proposed ban. Nebraskans United says the ban is working against civil rights and is misleading to voters.

"It is misleading because it doesn't tell what it will actually do," he said.

The current ballot language bans preferential treatment based on race, gender and ethnicity.

Hall said the current ballot language does not inform voters that equal opportunity programs and scholarships for minorities and women would be eliminated.

"As a university student, this will drastically affect the University of Nebraska in a very negative way," he said. "This ban eliminates the university's choice of how it can reach out to students by eliminating those equal opportunity programs."

For the 2007-08 school year, UNL had a 9.8 percent minority enrollment, the most diverse student body in the university's history.

"Race and gender is never used as the only factor when considering students for scholarships," said Craig Munier, UNL's director of scholarship and financial aid.

Approximately 300 students received scholarships this past school year. Scholarships take into consideration race, gender, low income or first generation college students.

"The university benefits from a diverse student body," Munier said. "The affirmative action ban would make it difficult to recruit a diverse student body."

The Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative, the group behind the proposed ban, announced on July 3 that petitioners had turned in 167,000 signatures to the Secretary of State's office, enough to get the issue on the November ballot.

An official with NCRI left a voice mail with the Daily Nebraskan saying the group was choosing not to speak to the newspaper.

"I don't know how (the lawsuit) is going to effect the way citizens vote," Hall said, "but the language needs to be clear and state what the initiative will actually do."

alissaskelton@dailynebraskan.com

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