Only whites are represented among the students and the population at large in about the same proportion. That adds a further complication to the tangled racial politics of affirmative action in California. Cut out preferences, university officials estimate, and the number of white students will increase only slightly. He's right about that, but perhaps not entirely in the way he has in mind. Next year Californians will vote in a referendum on a measure that would forbid the state to use affirmative action not only in public education but also in state employment and contracting.
Polls show three-fourths of the state's voters supporting it.
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