Despite legal concerns, a California bill that would allow higher education institutions to prioritize slave descendants in admissions is advancing in the state legislature.
The “reparations” bill, AB 7, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in an 11-2 vote last week after the state Assembly approved it in June.
“We feel that, as attorneys, AB 7 doesn’t focus on race but focuses on descendants of enslaved people, a legal term of ours that gives us a better chance of surviving legal scrutiny,” Tiega Varlack, secretary for the California Association of Black Lawyers, told the California Black Media Network after the committee vote.
If passed, the bill would allow the California State University and the University of California, as well as private colleges and universities, to “consider providing a preference in admissions to an applicant who is a descendant of slavery, as defined, to the extent it does not conflict with federal law.”
Varlack said her association supports the bill because “education is extremely important to our pipeline.” She also said it will provide better “educational equity and reparative justice” for African Americans, according to the report.
But others told lawmakers the “reparations” measure will violate state and federal civil rights laws.
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Author: Marty Kaufmann
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