California Proposing Capping Asian College Attendance

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Chinese Americans in the U.S. State of California have started petitions for the veto of a state senate bill which will restrict Asians in school admission and employment. On Jan. 30, California Senate passed SCA-5, a legislation that would repeal portions of California Proposition 209 and allow the state to use race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin as a consideration for accepting students or hiring employees.

The bill was introduced by State Senator Ed Hernandez who claimed that fewer under-represented minority students are admitted in state universities as a result of Proposition 209. A petition has started at the White House website which says that California's SCA-5 is against the "equal protection" clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The petition needs 100,000 signatures by March 18 to make the White House take any action. Asian American organizations are encouraging Asians to sign it as a way to voice concerns of millions of Asians in the United States. Another petition at the www.change.org website has started at the state level, calling for the California State Assembly to veto the bill.

If the bill passes the State Assembly, it could be an issue for Californian voters to decide in the coming election. Xudong Sun, president of American Anhui Association of Scholars and Students, told Xinhua that this legislation is racial and is a serious discrimination against Asian Americans. He said right now at the University of California and state universities, Asian students account for 36 percent, but Bill SCA-5 would restrict Asians to 13 percent. He said under-represented minority groups, like African Americans and Hispanics need protection, but such protection should not be made at the expense of Asian Americans.

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