Imagine Fund can help level the field

May 27, 2008
Detroit Free Press

When Michigan voters in 2006 overwhelmingly agreed to ban affirmative action by passing a proposal called the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, they could not completely slam the door on people who see the value of diversity in higher education and want to do something about it.

One such something is aptly named the Imagine Fund, a new nonprofit that works with donors who want to fund scholarships that are purposely designed to advance minority students at Michigan colleges and universities.

"We're trying to make a pitcher of lemonade out of the lemons of Proposal 2," said Imagine Fund President Nanette Reynolds, a former director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights under both Republicans and Democrats.

Established through a $175,000 grant from the Kellogg Foundation, the fund's goal is "to keep the doors of opportunity open for those whose race, color, sex, ethnicity, national origin and/or cultural characteristics may otherwise limit their path."

The approach is to link donors interested in establishing scholarships with qualified students and then distribute those gifts. Think of it as a scholarship management fund with major potential to help level the playing field of higher education in Michigan.

The limits that public colleges and university must live with under Proposal 2 fortunately do not extend to private citizens still committed to investing in diversity. The law also does not bar the creation of private, third-party groups designed to distribute scholarships based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.

Undoubtedly, arguments will be made that the Imagine Fund is an attempt to undercut the will of the majority of Michigan voters. But this is a wholly private undertaking, allowing concerned citizens to not only imagine, but to invest in a Michigan where access to higher education is seen as a benefit to all.

Learn more about the Imagine Fund on the Web at http://www.theimaginefund.com/.