Ward Connerly | |
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Born | Wardell Anthony Connerly June 15, 1939 |
Education | California State University, Sacramento |
Known for | California's Proposition 209 Michigan Civil Rights Initiative |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse |
Ilene Crews (m. 1962) |
Children | 2 |
Wardell Anthony "Ward" Connerly (born June 15, 1939) is an American political and anti-affirmative action activist, businessman, and former University of California Regent (1993–2005). He is also the founder and the chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, a national non-profit organization in opposition to racial and gender preferences,[1] and is the president of Californians for Equal Rights,[2] a non-profit organization active in the state of California with a similar mission. He is considered to be the man behind California's Proposition 209 prohibiting race- and gender-based preferences in state hiring, contracting and state university admissions, a program known as affirmative action.[3]