Kalamazoo Gazette

Thursday, August 21, 2008

When Cirilo Martinez was growing up helping his migrant parents pick crops in southwestern Michigan, he knew he didn't want that kind of life as an adult. His parents didn't want him to have that kind of life, either.

Fortunately for Martinez, an outstanding student in Van Buren public schools, he -- along with five of his seven other siblings -- was accepted by the University of Michigan, where there were scholarships awaiting migrant students.

Martinez, who is now a lawyer in Kalamazoo, doubts that those scholarships would be available to him today, in the wake of Michigan voters 2006 ban on affirmative action in college admissions, public hiring and contracting.

That's why he leaped at the chance to get involved in the Imagine Fund, a private scholarship program designed to aid not just racial minorities, but those from underrepresented groups like homosexuals, the disabled and religious minorities. And if someone wants to contribute to a fund designated exclusively for heterosexual white males, that's OK, too.

He is now on the Imagine Fund board of directors, which also includes David Hollister, former director of the Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services under Gov. Jennifer Granholm; C. Patrick Babcock, a longtime state administrator; and honorary adviser Mark Murray, president of Meijer Inc., former president of Grand Valley State University and holder of a wide number of posts in the Engler administration.

The Imagine Fund was started last year with grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and DTE Energy. Its officers are now scouring Michigan foundations, corporations and generous individuals to both build up an endowment for scholarships and allow individuals or organizations to set up funds for specific groups of students they would like to aid.

They're interested in examining the results of the ``Level The Playing Field'' campaign in California and the ``College Success Foundation'' in Washington state, where affirmative action in college admissions also is banned. Those two private programs are designed to help minority students attend college.

We're very interested in measuring the successes of these programs and will be eager to see if the Imagine Fund can help more underrepresented groups stay in school.