IT DIDN”T TAKE LONG: Yesterday was the 22nd anniversary of Proposition 209’s passage. That means today is the anniversary of the litigation that tied up its implementation for almost a year. Once the initiative was implemented, however, it did exactly what I had been hoping for: It improved the academic performance of minority students.
For example, prior to the initiative’s implementation, the University of California at San Diego had only one African American honor student out of a class of 3,268. At the same time, 15% of African American students and 17% of American Indian students were in academic jeopardy (defined as a GPA of 2.0 or less). That should be compared to only 4% of white students.
Proposition 209 made a big difference. In the very first year of its implementation, a full 20% of African American freshman had GPA of 3.5 or better—higher than the Asian rate (16%) and almost as high as the white rate (22%) for that year. (Part of the reason for the difference between the Asian and the white rates is that more Asians major in STEM, which traditionally results in lower grades).
At the same time, the academic jeopardy rate for African Americans and American Indians collapsed to just 6%. Not bad for a voter initiative.