LONG BEACH - Long Beach City College's governing board voted unanimously Tuesday to oppose a ballot initiative aimed at barring state institutions from classifying students and employees by race.

The five-member board of trustees for the Long Beach Community College District agreed to draft a resolution joining other opponents of Proposition 54, known as the Racial Privacy Initiative.

Organizations that have already opposed the proposition include California Community Colleges, the California Faculty Association, the California Teachers Association and the University of California.

LBCC Trustee Roberto Uranga introduced the matter for discussion Tuesday evening, urging his fellow trustees to take a stand against Prop 54. He said the initiative would hamstring efforts to track the achievement of and services to minority students while making it more difficult to promote diversity among staff members.

Trustee Jeffrey Kellogg agreed, adding that he wasn't a big fan of the state's initiative system anyway.

"In this case, if we do not have this information, we're unable to address the needs of our students, our community, our constituents,' Kellogg said. "It's one thing to be color blind, it's another thing to be blind to information vital to the campus.'

Supporters of Prop 54, including University of California Regent Ward Connerly, have maintained that the ballot initiative would help foster a colorblind society. Some have argued that public educators have focused too much on racial issues with nothing to show for their efforts in the way of improved performance.

Opponents of the initiative have argued that there is still a need to track student access and achievement, as well as staff and faculty diversity. They say the proposition would make it tough to study workplace discrimination, hate crimes and disparities in educational resources.

Should voters endorse Prop 54 during the Oct. 7 gubernatorial recall election, it would take effect in January 2005.