Washington Post Report Shows “Shrinking Black Enrollment” At Major Florida Universities Following Bush Executive Order Ending Affirmative Action

Bush Signed Executive Order Ending Affirmative Action In Florida In 1999, Recently Credited The Program With Increasing Opportunity For Black And Hispanic College Students. In 1999, Bush signed an executive order effectively ending affirmative action in Florida, dubbed “One Florida.” Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February, Bush claimed, “I eliminated affirmative action by executive order. Trust me, there were a lot of people upset about this. But through hard work we ended up having a system where there were more African-American and Hispanic kids attending our university system than prior to the system that was discriminatory.” [The New York Times, 02/04/00, C-SPAN, 2/27/15]

Wash. Post: Black Enrollment Is “Shrinking” At Major Florida Universities. In an April 6 article, The Washington Post reported that black enrollment is “shrinking” at Florida's two premier universities, the University of Florida and Florida State University:

[A]t Florida's two premier universities, black enrollment is shrinking. At the University of Florida in Gainesville and at Florida State University in Tallahassee, administrators say they worry that the trend risks diminishing their standing as world-class universities and hurts the college experience.

The black share of the UF freshman class, for instance, plunged to 6 percent in 2013, the most recent year for which data is available. That is down from 9 percent in 2011.

[...]

The growth in minority enrollment that Bush now points to is primarily a result of the state's booming Hispanic population, which has led to a large increase in the share of Hispanic students attending Florida colleges. Between 2000 and 2013, the numbers of Hispanics, African Americans and members of other ethnic groups rose as the state university system got much bigger, with freshman enrollment up 35 percent.

But as a proportion of the overall student population, black enrollment has declined -- most notably at UF and FSU. At the time Bush enacted the policy, black students made up 18 percent of all freshmen at Florida colleges. That had dropped to 15 percent by 2009. [The Washington Post, 4/6/15]

PolitiFact Rated Bush's Claim That One Florida Program Increased Minority Enrollment As “Mostly False.” According to PolitiFact, Bush's claims about the success of his One Florida program are “mostly false,” because the percentage of black students at state schools is down since Bush's 1999 executive order:

Bush said that eliminating affirmative action in admissions led to “more African American and Hispanic kids attending our university system” universities than before.

The raw numbers of black and Hispanic students are up, but the percentage of black students in the State University System is down slightly since Bush's 1999 executive order. The number of Hispanic students has gone up considerably, but that is partly because of a recent change in how students report ethnicity during the admissions process.

There's no hard evidence Bush's One Florida program had much to do with the enrollment changes. Experts say demographics, graduation rates and state-sponsored scholarship money have had more influence.

We rate the statement Mostly False. [PolitiFact.com, 3/11/15]

Conservative Media Praised Bush's Executive Action In Its Early Days

Fox's Bill O'Reilly: “Colorblind” One Florida Program Is More Fair Than Affirmative Action. In February 2001, Fox host Bill O'Reilly said that contrary to affirmative action admissions, where “those who are not in the race preferential group can lose out,” the “colorblind policy called One Florida ... is fair to all the kids down there. It does not divide people or make anyone feel that he or she was accepted to college based on skin color”:

O'REILLY: Over the weekend, I was down in Washington. I ran into Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who's taking a massive amount of heat over his One Florida program. In November of '99, the Governor signed an executive order ending race and ethnic considerations in Florida university admissions. He replaced affirmative action with a colorblind policy called One Florida.

[...]

The policy is not perfect, but it is fair. Minority enrollment in Florida universities is up and no one is denied a spot in college because of skin color. Remember, in affirmative action admissions, those who are not in the race preferential group can lose out. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 2/26/01 via Nexis]

The Weekly Standard Endorsed Bush Based On One Florida Program. In 2002, The Weekly Standard endorsed Jeb Bush for a second term as Florida governor over challenger Bill McBride, partially because Bush “shook up the system” by abolishing affirmative action in higher education admissions. The piece also emphasized that the One Florida program had not significantly changed Florida higher education:

The governor's office has issued statistics showing that eliminating affirmative action hasn't been as devastating for minorities as some supposed it might be: Enrollment percentages for minorities at most schools have fluctuated only slightly, thanks in part to expanded outreach and a provision that allows the top 20 percent of graduating seniors from each high school to enroll in a state university. A number of university presidents--a group that has traditionally fought for affirmative action--have praised the governor's initiative.[The Weekly Standard, 10/28/02]

And Conservative Outlets Have Continued Defending The Program As Recently As Last Month

NRO: PolitiFact's “Mostly False” Rating Based On Misinterprets Key Statistics. In March, National Review Online criticized PolitiFact's evaluation of Bush's One Florida program claiming credit for an increase in minority student enrollment at Florida universities, attributing the drop in black enrollment to “a semantic bit of paperwork”:

Based on this fact pattern -- 1) there are more minorities enrolled in college in Florida than there were under affirmative action, 2) minority students, as a whole, account for a significantly greater percentage of enrollees than they did under affirmative action, 3) the statistically insignificant dip in black enrollment is attributable to a semantic bit of paperwork, and 4) programs like the one Bush sponsored help account for the distinction -- how would you rate Bush's claim? If you're Politifact, you'd rate it “mostly false.” Can't make this crap up. [National Review Online, 3/11/15]