While the affirmative action debate shows no signs of slowing down, the state of California may soon begin using race as a characteristic for admission to California’s public universities.

According to a new bill, AB 1452, proposed by California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Sacramento, the University of California and California State systems will be allowed to use race as a characteristic to take into account when considering admission to a university.

California has not used affirmative action in admissions practices since 1996, when Californians voted for Proposition 209, banning the policy from college admissions. The state, therefore, could not discriminate students based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.

However, Nunez’s bill will aim to change that with the signing of AB 1452, since the literature of the bill explains race will not be used to preference students of color.

According to Vincent Duffy, spokesperson for the California Office of the Assembly Speaker, Nunez believes higher education is the one true equalizer in American society. Nunez, a Hispanic minority, was the son of a maid and gardener and was able to gain a college education through scholarships.

“He feels passionately about education and higher education, especially because of the way it changed his life,” Duffy said.

Duffy added, currently, black and Latino students are highly underrepresented in higher education when compared to those in high school.

“If you compare their representation from high school, the numbers don’t match up,” Duffy said. “Less than a quarter are represented in the universities; they’re represented over a third in [their high school] graduating class. There’s a discrepancy there that needs to be addressed.”

The bill passed through the Higher Education Subcommittee with a 5-1 vote and currently sits waiting to be addressed by the Appropriation Committee. The Committee must make their decision on the bill before June 3.

Despite Nunez’s claim that AB 1452 is not affirmative action, the debate is still going strong, and many have kept their eyes turned to California.

Some have begun to question whether the use of affirmative action policies really helps minority students, labeling it the next “battleground” for admittance strategy.

According to two studies, one by University of California-Los Angeles professor Richard Sander and another by Cato Institute’s Marie Gryphon, affirmative action and other race admissions policies could hurt — rather than help — minority students.

Gryphon argued, because of affirmative action policies, minority students only meet minimum requirements, making their challenge at universities that much more difficult.

Sander additionally argued black law students are more likely to receive low grades, drop out or fail the bar exam due to affirmative action.

However, many remain skeptical of these claims.

University of Wisconsin Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Climate Bernice Durand said California’s AB 1452 was a “holistic” view of admissions that use race as a characteristic and is the same method used by UW admissions.

“You consider everyone individually, and you consider many, many things [about the individual],” Durand said.

Additionally, Durand said claims minorities leaving the university without graduating largely depended on the lack of welcome present on campus.

“Not feeling that you’re welcome, not feeling that you’re being treated with respect,” Durand said. “It’s not fair to them because of their climate. We really have to work on climate.”