[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 38 (Tuesday, March 19, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H2322-H2323]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




THE DIRTY LITTLE SECRET OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION FOES: THEY GET BY WITH A 
                     LITTLE HELP FROM THEIR FRIENDS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Nethercutt). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of May 12, 1995, the gentlewoman from Colorado [Mrs. 
Schroeder] is recognized during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, I have the great honor of serving on the 
House Committee on the Judiciary, and this has been a very, very 
difficult year, because we have had incoming missiles from every which 
way attacking affirmative action. I for one have been a believer in 
affirmative action, because I remember I could not get into a lot of 
schools I wanted to get into as a young woman, because even though I 
passed all the tests, they would say ``Whoops, wrong chromosomes; have 
a nice day,'' and you went right out the door. So I have been very 
interested in this debate on affirmative action.

[[Page H2323]]

  Well, I am going to do today what one of the ex-mayors of New York 
used to do. Mayor LaGuardia used to read the newspaper to people, and I 
think it is time to start reading the newspaper to people, because one 
of these incoming missiles against affirmative action came in the form 
of a vote by the University of California regents. That distinguished 
panel voted aggressively to back off of affirmative action. To end 
affirmative action as we know it, and now we know why that group wanted 
to.
  They believe in the old Beatles song, ``You get by with a little help 
from your friends.'' Remember that? ``I get by with a little help from 
my friends.'' Well, this is what they are all singing.
  This Saturday's Los Angeles Times did a wonderful job of exposing 
these regents, who are so pure and want a level playing field and all 
of this other stuff that you have heard about affirmative action. And 
what you really find as you read this newspaper, which is absolutely 
fascinating, because they go further and document all of the 
politicians, from Governor Pete Wilson, who led the antiaffirmative 
action charge in his now historic run for President, and he is no 
longer there, but from Governor Pete Wilson to many of the regents who 
voted for this, all the different people that they insisted that the 
University of California put at the front of the line, even though 
their grades happened to be lower than many others that they shut the 
door on because of this, their scores turned out to be lower. It is 
very interesting reading, and I hope people will look at this.
  When some of these young students who got moved to the front of the 
line because their dad or mom knew the regent or they were business 
associates or whatever, when they would interview some of these young 
students, some them said very clearly, ``But, of course, that is what 
is going on. This is America. It is who you know, not what you know.''
  Now, most minorities and women knew that. They knew that if they did 
not know somebody big, they were not going to get in. Actually some of 
them, they did not even need bother apply, because they were not going 
to get through the barrier. People could not look beyond their skin 
color, religion or sex.
  So we are working hard to try and have a wakeup call to people, to 
say look, affirmative action is not perfect, but we ought to fix it, 
and we ought to be working on what you know, not who you know. But when 
you look at these regents, it is so clear by this record that special 
privilege is something that they want to continue. They want to 
continue with it, and they see affirmative action challenging that.
  One of the regents who aggressively, aggressively fought affirmative 
action, was a man named Leo Kolligan. Now, this guy got in over 35 
different young people, according to the L.A. Times, that were not as 
qualified. One score was lower than 6,000 other young people who were 
turned away, but he got in. It is who you know, not what you know.
  When you look at all of the others, they all happen to be sons and 
daughters of very prominent folks in the community that these different 
regents knew, or relatives, it is amazing how thick blood can run, or 
prominent politicians or relatives of prominent politicians or large 
fund raisers or whatever.
  But that is not what we have said the American dream is about. So as 
you listen to this raging debate about affirmative action, we really 
ought to put it into some kind of context. What we really want to make 
sure is that the dream is attainable for everyone, no matter what their 
background, and it is really honest-to-goodness attainable. And if we 
go back to this who you know, it is not. You cannot say it is one 
thing, and then have it operating in an entirely different way.
  The young people of America know that, and they know how fraudulent 
it is. You have so many students protesting in California on the 
campuses on this. I hope everybody pays serious attention to this, and 
we do not get caught up in undoing something so important.

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