ANTI-209 TOUR MAKES CSUN STOP : CIVIL RIGHTS WOULD BE SET BACK, FOES SAY.

Byline: Rick Orlov and Mary Beth Alexander Daily News Staff Writers

Opponents of Proposition 209 conducted more bus-stop rallies around Los Angeles on Monday, warning that the measure would wipe out three decades of civil rights gains.

Hundreds gathered at Los Angeles City Hall, UCLA and Cal State Northridge, cheering the arrival of the ``Save the Dream Freedom Bus'' and the speeches of those aboard, including Feminist Majority leader Eleanor Smeal.

``This is a national fight to roll back the gains of the '60s and '70s,'' Smeal told a group of about 130 students at the Northridge campus. ``And we're not going to let that happen.''

In an interview after the rally, Smeal said the only way to make affirmative action laws better was to make them stronger. She said basing preferences purely on economic need wouldn't address the problem, even if it might make the policies more acceptable to detractors.

``There is race discrimination, sex discrimination . . . that has nothing to do with poverty,'' Smeal said.

Smeal was part of a group of 50 women, including doctors, lawyers, student athletes and others, who rode the bus. The Rev. Jesse Jackson joined the group for a brief appearance at UCLA.

The Los Angeles stops were part of a statewide tour to build opposition to the ballot measure, known as the California Civil Rights Initiative, and to drum up volunteers to help in the fight.

The bus stopped in front of Cal State Northridge's Student Union, the site of last week's melee involving students and police sparked by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke's appearance on campus.

But the crowd that gathered to greet the traveling tour was peaceful.

Describing the campus as ``the place that ripped the mask off 209,'' Smeal appealed to the students to volunteer to get the word out to voters to reject the measure.

Dolores Huerta, secretary treasurer of United Farm Workers of America, told the students it was their turn to carry on the decades-long fight for civil rights.

``We can't get discouraged. We can't think that somehow this battle is too big to overcome,'' said Huerta.

At City Hall, tour leaders cautioned that women could suffer most if the measure, which would eliminate all government programs giving preferences based on race or gender, is approved at the Nov. 5 election.

``This is about real people,'' Smeal said. ``And it has national impact if the nation's largest state approves this measure.''

Jennifer Nelson, a spokeswoman for the Yes on 209 campaign, discounted that argument and the impact of the rallies.

``Their message is that somehow CCRI hurts women,'' Nelson said. ``Not only are they arguing bad law, but it hasn't resonated with the women of the state.''

Lisa Campbell, executive director of the Women Contractors of California, said there already has been a sharp decline in the number of state advisories seeking women contractors since Gov. Pete Wilson signed an executive order doing away with preferences in state contracting.

``I talked to one contractor about it and he said they didn't have to use women anymore,'' Campbell said. ``It's back to a good old boys' business.''

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Kate McCall cheers the arrival of the ``Save t he Dream Freedom Bus'' at the Cal State Northridge campus on Monday.

(2) Dolores Huerta, left, of United Farm Workers of America, CSUN Women's Center director Aurie Llamas and Feminist Majority leader Eleanor Smeal lead the rally.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News