Members of a higher education advisory panel expressed skepticism Tuesday after hearing arguments surrounding a controversial initiative to ban public agencies from collecting most racial and ethnic data.

Kevin Nguyen, a co-author of the ballot measure with Ward Connerly, told members of the California Postsecondary Education Commission that racial privacy would be a "relatively modest step toward the colorblind goal that we all espouse. The alternative to not weaning government off its racial obsession will lead to a less colorblind society."

Odessa Johnson, a commission member and UC regent, questioned that goal.

"How will this make a colorblind society other than on paper?" Johnson asked. "Discrimination happens one-on-one, face-to-face."

The commission, which advises the Legislature and Governor's Office on higher education policy, may adopt an official position on the issue next month.

Nguyen and Connerly were also backers of Proposition 209, the 1996 ballot initiative that banned racial preferences in university admissions and state and local government hiring and contracting.

Their new measure would block public agencies from gathering statistics on race, ethnicity, color or national origin of students and employees of public schools and colleges, and of government contractors.

Nguyen said the measure allows law enforcement and public health officials and medical researchers to collect racial data and would not prohibit information gathering that is necessary to comply with federal law.

The University of California Board of Regents -- Connerly is a member -- was the first group of state officials to weigh in on the matter last month when it voted 15-3 to reject the measure.

Most of California's highest-ranking elected officials -- all Democrats -- denounced the Racial Privacy Initiative Tuesday, with one calling it "Dark Ages stuff."

"It's exalting ignorance," said Treasurer Phil Angelides.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the measure would make prosecuting hate crimes -- many racially motivated -- difficult.

"We look at the patterns of hate crime activity in order to know where to deploy resources and how to effectively fight and prevent hate crimes," Lockyer said. "This initiative will stop that sort of work."

Connerly said Lockyer and other opponents are distorting the measure and charged that the group of Democrats is motivated more by the politics surrounding the possible recall of Gov. Gray Davis.

If efforts to recall the Democratic governor qualify for a special election this fall, the racial privacy initiative would also appear before voters. The measure is slated for the March 2004 ballot.

Connerly said Democratic leaders are worried that conservative voters who turn out for a recall of Davis would also support racial privacy.

"You don't start firing your guns nine months out on an issue like this; you can't keep voters' attention for that long," Connerly said. "If it weren't for the (recall), the racial privacy initiative wouldn't even be on their radar screens."

A spokesman for Davis said the governor is expected to speak out against the measure later.