The severe collapse in the economy did not result from the typical business-cycle, overheated and bubble-bursting downturn. The contraction of business activity, unprecedented in both depth and velocity inflicted during U.S. history, was brought on by government decree imposing economic marital law, forbidding normal consumer activity, and shuttering business operations.

Come November, California voters will determine the fate of affirmative action… again. What they decide will have a huge impact on higher education.

In 1996, voters passed Proposition 209, banning public agencies from considering race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in hiring, admissions and contracting. This year, if Proposition 16 passes, it will undo the ban on affirmative action.

Governor Gavin Newsom doesn’t want it to happen. Neither do powerful leaders in the state Legislature. Tenant groups desperately want to prevent it, and landlord associations say they also want to avoid it so long as they don’t bear an unfair portion of the cost.