The University of Michigan says that the recent passage of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative won’t change its hiring policies:
Proposal 2 may change admissions policies at the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus, but it won’t affect the school’s aggressive affirmative action hiring program.
University leaders say they will continue to set hiring goals for minorities and women and monitor whether those goals are met, despite the ballot measure’s ban on race and gender preferences in public education.
To back away from those programs, U-M officials maintain, would violate a presidential order that large institutions must have affirmative action policies if they receive federal money.
“If we wouldn’t do it, we would jeopardize our federal funding,” said Anthony Walesby, assistant provost and senior director of U-M’s Office of Institutional Equity. “It’s a requirement of the federal government and we meet that requirement.”