Friday, August 29, 2008

Civil Rights Roundup: 08/29/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

The backers of the Arizona initiative seeking to ban affirmative action got a reprieve today, as a judge is willing to give them more time to prove they received the requisite number of valid signatures to get on the ballot.

A suit against American contractor KBR alleges that 12 Nepalese workers were held in slavery in Iraq. They were later kidnapped by insurgents, and all but one was executed.

The Mexican Supreme Court has upheld Mexico City's relatively liberal abortion laws, making it a rare pro-choice foothold in largely anti-abortion Latin America.

Gainesville, Florida voters will have a chance to decide whether to keep civil rights protections for GLBT residents.

California is now adopting guidelines for what to do if gay prisoners want to marry.

To acquire Plan B, you might need a plan b, c, and d.

A UCLA professor on that university's admissions committee is resigning in protest. Professor Tim Groseclose wanted to find out if the school was admitting minority students with lower qualifications, presumably in violation of California's Proposition 209. But UCLA refused to release the data Groseclose said he needed. The professor actually claims to support affirmative action, but is angered by the lack of transparency.

The Black elite is taking special pride in Obama's rise, seeing it as reflective of their own hard work and experience.

It seems like the news is focusing on other issues today....

1 comment:

PG said...

I think schools' unwillingness to disclose information about applicants, admits, enrolled students and graduates really is poisoning the discussion about affirmative action. So long as the information can be given without betraying students' privacy (which is protected by federal law), it should be turned over to researchers. It defies the mission of higher education to be fearful of where information might lead us.