Bill Clinton: “First of all, I think we need to make sure that we continue to use Federal law to the maximum extent we can to promote…”

“First of all, I think we need to make sure that we continue to use Federal law to the maximum extent we can to promote an integrated educational environment so that we have to review, whether in the Education Department, in the Justice Department, whether there are any further actions we can take legally to promote an integrated educational environment in higher education in the States where these actions have been taken. Secondly, I think we need to look at whether there is some way by indirection to achieve the same result. I know that the legislature in Texas, in an attempt to overcome the impact of the Hopwood decision in Texas, just passed what they call the ``ten percent solution,'' which would be to guarantee admissions to any Texas public institution of higher education to the top 10 percent of the graduating class of any high school in Texas. And because of the way the African-Americans' and Hispanics' living patterns are in Texas, that may solve the problem. Whether that would work in California, I don't know. I haven't studied the way the school districts are organized enough. But I think we have to come up with some new and fairly innovative ways to do that. Thirdly, I think on the professional schools, my own view--I'm a little stumped here. We have to really--we're going to have to reexamine what we can do. I don't know why the people who promoted this in California think it's a good thing to have a segregated set of professional schools. It would seem to me that, since these professionals are going to be operating in the most ethnically diverse State in the country, they would want them to be educated in an environment like they're going to operate. I don't understand that. But there may be some ways to get around it, and we're looking at it and working on it. But I think it's going to be easier to stop it from happening at the undergraduate level than at the professional school level. And we're going to have to really think about whether there is some way around it, whether it would be some sort of economic designation or something else. But we're working on that. And finally, let me say, I think we need to continue to provide more resources, because one of the real problems we have is, even in the last 5 years, when we've had economic recovery, the college enrollment rates of minorities in America have not gone up in an appropriate way. And in this budget that I'm trying to get passed through Congress, we've got the biggest increase in education funding in 32 years, the biggest increase in Pell grant scholarships in 20 years, another huge increase in work-study funds, and the tax proposals as we structured them would, in effect, guarantee 2 years of college to virtually everyone in America and help people with 2 more years of college. We've got a huge dropout problem in higher education among minorities that I think is having an impact on then what happens in the graduate schools and in the professional schools. I don't think there is a simple answer. And I think, frankly, the way 209 is worded, it's a bigger problem even than the Hopwood case in Texas. But I can tell you we're working on it. First, is there anything the Justice Department or the civil rights office of the Education Department can do? We're examining that. Second, is there a specific solution like the Texas ``ten percent solution'' that would overcome it at least in a specific State? Third, come up with some more funds and some more specific scholarship programs to try to overcome it. It's a great concern to me, and I think it is moving the country in exactly the wrong direction. And I might say, if you look at the performance of affirmative action students, it doesn't justify the action that was taken. That's another point that ought to be made. So the one thing that I believe is, I believe that the rather shocking consequences in the professional schools in both Texas and California will have a deterrent impact on other actions like that in other States. And I believe you will see more efforts now to avoid this. I think a lot of people who even voted for 209 have been pretty shocked at what happened, and I don't believe the people of California wanted that to occur. And I think the rhetoric sounded better than the reality to a lot of voters. So I can tell you that, while I'm very concerned about it, I think if we all work on it, we can reverse it in a matter of a couple of years. And we just have to hope we don't lose too many people who would otherwise have had good opportunities because of it. But it is an urgent matter of concern to me. Education Mr. Jones. Brent Jones, University of Florida. Good afternoon, Mr. President.”