Martin Luther King Jr. During the week, psychiatrist H. Westley Clark, Freeman Bradley, director of Instructional Research and Support Services, and fourth-year medical student Mallika J. Marshall received the Martin Luther King Jr. Award for their work in affirmative action. Chancellor Joseph B. Martin and Haile Debas, dean of the School of Medicine, also were honored by the Council of Minority Organizations for their work to maintain an ethnically diverse campus. It was the right decision then.
Racial preferences are by definition racial discrimination.
Wilson urged the Regents to adopt a clear policy on affirmative action and not to delegate that responsibility to UC administration or faculty members. But many UC faculty members begged to differ. Saying they did not have ample opportunity to share their opinion on the affirmative action policy, faculty criticized the Regents for failing to adhere to the system of shared governance, an established method that gives them a role in deciding educational policy. However, William Wara, chair of UCSF's Academic Senate and a professor in radiation oncology, is optimistic about the Regents' postponement of the affirmative action issue. I view the Regents' decision as a good compromise.