Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020
Does a California ballot initiative seek to overturn the state’s 1996 ban on affirmative action?
California voters in November are being asked to consider a measure overturning a 1996 ban on state affirmative-action programs, which consider sex, race and ethnicity as preferential factors in public employment, contracting and education decisions.
Among other impacts, overturning the ban could change the racial balance at the state's universities. The University of California, which favors the measure, says Blacks and Latinos are underrepresented in its student body. Some Asian-American groups oppose the repeal of the ban, citing the lower ratio of Asian-American students at other institutions using affirmative action policies in admissions decisions.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Ballotpedia: California Proposition 16, 2020
- Associated Press: California voters to decide fate of affirmative action ban
- Edsource: California universities prepare for possible return of affirmative action
- University of California: Board endorses repeal of prop 209
- StopProp16: Information and rebuttals
About fact briefs
Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
See all fact briefs
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
Learn MoreLatest Fact Briefs
Is there a scientific consensus that life begins at conception?
Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022
Do countries around the world subsidize fossil fuels?
Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022
Is the repeal of Roe v. Wade expected to increase the maternal death rate?
Wednesday, Jul. 27, 2022