Is it time to end programs that encourage girls to pursue careers in math and science? Is it time to stop our state colleges and universities from doing outreach in Black and Latino neighborhoods to recruit a more diverse pool of qualified applicants? Is it time to end culturally competent health care programs that better serve people with different medical care issues and needs?

This year Colorado voters will decide whether it's time to end all such programs. The trouble is, even savvy voters may not realize what their vote could mean. That's because Amendment 46, which is headed for the November 2008 ballot, reads as though it would prevent discrimination, while it would actually re-write our state constitution to ban all programs that seek to eliminate or redress race and sex discrimination in public employment, public education, and public contracting.

Unfortunately, the "confusion" does not seem an accident. In Michigan, where the same measure passed in 2006, over 500 people signed sworn affidavits stating they were misled and even lied to by petitioners about the intent of the measure. In Colorado, polls show that the very people most likely to support equal opportunity and affirmative action programs are the ones who say they would vote for this measure.

Here's what Amendment 46 says:

The state shall not discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting.

What's so dangerous about that?

Most people would support a law that bans discrimination. However, by using the undefined and legally vague term "preferential treatment," this constitutional amendment turns the language of the civil rights movement on its head. Nearly identical measures have passed in California (Prop. 209 - 1996), Washington (Initiative 200 - 1998) and Michigan (Prop. 2 - 2006), with undeniable results:

• In the decade immediately following the passage of Prop. 209 in California, the number of minority freshmen registrants at the University of California, Berkeley dropped 65%.  During the same time period at UCLA, the number of minority freshmen registrants fell 45%, and African American admissions fell 57%.
• Dr. Jordan Cohen, former president of the Association of American Medical Schools, projects that eliminating race entirely as a factor in medical school admissions would result in a 72 percent drop in the number of African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans admitted from 1,868 (the total number in 2001) to 526.
• The percentage of African-American, Hispanic, and Native American students admitted to the University of Michigan Law School, fell from 39.6% before Prop. 2 was enacted, to 5.5% post-enactment.

It is important to remember we are not talking about quotas, which have already been declared illegal by the Supreme Court. Nor do these outreach, mentoring and admissions programs give spots to unqualified minorities, as opponents of affirmative action often claim. Rather, they allow qualified minorities an equal opportunity to attend competitive schools and pursue professions from which they were previously excluded.

Among the worst impacts of such a measure is the chilling effect of the fear of expensive litigation. For example, California's Prop. 209 led to legal challenges against state programs that helped battered women and provided breast-cancer screening. It is unknown what programs might be curtailed or avoided due to the mere threat of being sued. We can and should debate the best way to ensure equal opportunity for everyone, but the so-called "Civil Rights Initiative" would ban all attempts, period.

Are we all equal now?

The historical gender and racial gaps - pay disparities, educational disparities, job discrimination, housing discrimination - have been slowly closing during the 40 years since the Civil Rights Movement produced laws and programs to end discrimination. But the gaps and disparities still exist. For example:

Ø      Only 50 percent of Hispanic third-graders in Colorado are reading at grade level according to the CSAP, while 81 percent of white third-graders are reading at grade level.

Ø      Forty-five points is Colorado's "achievement gap" between what white 10^th graders are scoring in the math CSAP and what African-American 10^th graders are scoring in the math CSAP.

Ø      In Colorado, Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans comprised 21.9 percent of high school graduates in 2004, but those three groups comprised only 9.2% of freshman at CU-Boulder.

Ø      Women and minorities make up 57% of Fortune 2000 workforce, but hold 5% of the senior management jobs.

Ø      80 percent of all jobs are filled by word of mouth - not job postings, internet ads or classifieds.

We can all agree the great promise of our nation, the very idea of the United States of America, springs from the principles of equality and opportunity. On November 4, let's be sure to honor our shared passion for equal rights by defeating the so-called "Civil Rights Initiative." Please talk to your family and friends about the potential impact of this measure, and get involved in the campaign.